Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V: Dragons' Awakening
by BlaiseCandell
Summary: In Domino City, there are four boys with the same face. Opposite of it is an island with far too many secrets, and one school at the root of it all—Duel Academia. With challenges that will attempt to break them apart, can they win against the odds? And most importantly, can they find the peace that they have been fighting for?
1. Chapter 1: Roar of Rebellion

_"Once upon a time, there was a princess who fought for her kingdom, and a prince who fought for his. The prince fell, and eventually, his legacy was cloaked in shadow. He was called a warmonger, the worst person to have ever ruled the kingdom._

 _The princess was distraught. She had known and honoured the prince for being as loyal to his kingdom as the princess was to her own. She knew him as someone who had been unwilling to let his kingdom be enslaved, who had fought to protect what was dear to him—and she refused to let people insult him._

 _So she did something she should have never done."_

 _"What did the princess do?"_

 _"Patience. I'm getting to that—"_

"—ake up! Wake up!"

"Ahh!" Yuya tumbled out of bed. He heard Yuri snickering in the corner of the room and Yugo groaning next to him, on the floor as well. He pulled himself up to meet Yuto's dark grey eyes. "Yuto, why are you—"

Yuto sighed, closing his eyes and walking to the opposite wall, headbutting it. "Yuya, the exam is today. Yuri and I already changed. He told me to you two would wake up by yourselves, but I see he was wrong."

Yuri raised his hands, his smirk still on his face. "Not my fault that they're sleepyheads."

Exam, exam… exam?

Oh shit—Yuya ran to the wardrobe, grabbing the set of clothes he had decided to wear. "I'm changing in the toilet!" He shouted before Yugo had the time to process what Yuto just said, darting into the toilet. He heard the start of a swear word and Yuri's laughter before he locked the door tightly shut.

* * *

"This… is all… Fusion's fault. Run… faster."

The citizens of Domino City woke up to four boys with the same face running down the street with various messy fruit coloured hair and colour coded suitcases. The boy with hair like a purple cabbage and a long red cape was the one who had spoken, and seemed to be struggling the most out of the four.

Yugo predictably reacted. "My name is Yugo! Damn it, don't keep getting my name wrong!" he declared, running faster and sticking out his tongue. "Besides, you're the slowest here!"

Yuto was the most steady—that is, the one with the most consistent speed out of the four. He sighed and facepalmed—and immediately realised that that was probably not the best idea as he tripped on the gravel. Luckily, Yuya quickly steadied him. He gave his younger brother a nod of thanks, before carrying on.

"I should have brought the D-Wheel, but…" Yugo shot Yuri a dirty look. Two days ago, Yuri had attacked Yugo's D-Wheel with pink paint and they had sent it off for washing. Yuto shuddered at the memory of what had happened for the last two days. Yuya gave him a sympathetic smile.

Geez, sometimes it was like Yuya was the only sane one here. And then he remembered the hippos and cringed slightly. Yuya continued skating down the street with ease, much to his brothers' jealousy (in Yuri and Yugo's case) and amusement (in Yuto's).

"Don't blame me for your idiocy, Fusion." Yuri stretched out the last word, his grin growing. Yugo twitched, reaching for his duel disk—

"Guys! We're already late! Can we deal with this later?" Yuya gave the two a worried frown.

Yuri and Yugo exchanged a look, before they separated with sighs. Yuto suppressed a chuckle. The two could never say no to Yuya. Of course, he was the same but still…

They got to a glass walled building, and a quick glance at Yuto's phone confirmed that it was the right place. At his nod, they burst in, Yuya skidding up to the front desk while his brothers caught their breath. "Yuya Sakaki, Yuri Sakaki, Yugo Sakaki and Yuto Sakaki." He rattled off. "Are we… can we still take the exam?"

The receptionist chuckled. "Yes, although you were quite lucky. In a few minutes, we won't be allowed to accept students anymore. Please bring your brothers…" she looked at the three panting and half dead brothers near the door, "—into the room. Are they alright?"

Yuya glanced back and laughed. "Don't worry! They're hardier than they look." He skated over. "Guys! Time to go in!"

Yuto gave him a thumbs up and began pulling Yuri and Yugo towards the door. Yuri gave him The Look (the look, the look that the three of them except Yuya knew as "I will kill you once Yuya's not looking.") and he returned it. They entered the waiting area, where another teacher was sitting down calmly.

"Sakaki?" She asked. The four nodded and she smiled. "Ah, the way you guys came into the lobby reminded me of how one of my best friends first got into Academia. Please take a seat. The student before you is finishing up."

Yuya and his brothers sat down to watch. The girl in the arena was using dancer monsters, with a cat-like dancer standing in front of her. "Cat Dancer's effect!" She announced. "I tribute Blue Cat to let it attack all your monsters twice this turn, and the first time, they're not destroyed by the attack! Finish him, Cat Dancer! Full Moon Cresta!" The dancer leaped forward, slashing across all of the monsters that the bot controlled, reducing the bot's life points to zero.

The Duel Bot let out a sound of applause. **[Well done! Please head to the stands.]**

The teacher nodded. "Alright, Yuya Sakaki, you're up first—" Her phone beeped, and then she gave it an irritated glare. "Or not. Chronos-sensei, I will be having words with you after this…" she looked up at the confused boys. "Sorry. Someone's changed the order, so Yuto Sakaki will be duelling first."

Yuri and Yuto, the oldest two frowned. Something was off—why would it matter to anyone which one of them duelled first? Yuya grinned at Yuto. "Go get them!"

Yuto stood up with a simple nod. Yuri gave him a confident smirk, although he could see his own worry reflected in his brother's eyes. "Don't embarrass us." And a hidden message—don't lose.

"I won't." He said, giving them what he hoped was a reassuring grin. "Just watch me."

* * *

"I'm Hokuto Shijima." The tester—who happened to not be a Duel Bot—said with a friendly smile. Yuto's suspicions grew just at the sight of him. (Who is manipulating these events behind the scenes, and why? To kick them out?) He would have to discuss this with Yuri later; but first he had to deal with this. "Second year here. It's good to meet you, Yuto Sakaki. I wish it was under other circumstances."

"Do we know each other?" He asked.

"No," Hokuto replied. "But I know who Yusho Sakaki is—"

"Never say that name again." He hissed out. That name, the name of that man… he regretted reacting the moment the initial rage began fading. He didn't usually react that way—not even to that name. It usually set off Yuri or Yugo instead. But he was slightly testy today… and the fact that the boy had said his father—no, that man's name so casually infuriated him more than anything else. No one had the right to say that name. "We're here to duel, aren't we? Come on!"

 **[Duel Mode Randomised. Mode: Master Duel.]** The computer announced to the room. **[Challenger Yuto Sakaki will take the first turn.]**

Hokuto recovered from his shock. "Come and get me!"

"Duel!"

 **Yuto Sakaki: 4000LP**

 **Hokuto Shijima: 4000LP**

"I'll begin then." Yuto drew his five cards. "I will Normal Summon The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves _(3*/1000/500/DARK/Warrior/Effect)_ to my field!" The monster appeared, purple miasma flowing from its ghostly body. "Now, since I have a "The Phantom Knights" monster on my field, I can activate the effect of The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots _(3*/200/1200/DARK/Warrior/Effect)_ and Special Summon it from my hand!"

"2 Level 3 monsters…" Hokuto muttered.

"If you're guessing what I think you are… well, you're right. Prepare yourself, Hokuto Shijima! I Overlay my two monsters! Souls of knights who fell on the battlefield. Revive here and now, and become the light that breaks the darkness! Xyz Summon! Appear, Rank 3, The Phantom Knights of Break Sword!" _(R3/2000/1000/DARK/Warrior/Xyz/ Effect)_

The two monsters pooled into a dark bubbling shadow on the ground. It exploded and formed into the shape of a black horse—which let out a fearsome roar, while its back oozed out more shadows that formed into the upper torso of a human—and blue flame appeared on the monster's neck, forming the shape of a head.

"That kind of creepy monster…" Hokuto stepped back. "Not bad, Sakaki."

"A monster with Ragged Gloves as material gains 1000 attack. I set two cards and end." _(The Phantom Knights of Break Sword: 2000 + 1000 = 3000ATK)_

"If you will face me with darkness, I know the perfect monster to face you, Yuto Sakaki!" The boy drew a card and smirked. "It's here."

"Before you continue, may I ask a question?" Yuto said, as calmly as he could.

"Ask away. You seem like a nice kid, Sakaki."

"Who wants to get rid of us, and why? Who is Chronos?"

Hokuto's eyes widened. "Interesting. You managed to guess that? How'd you figure it out?"

"I didn't." Now that his thoughts had been confirmed, he glanced at Yuri, who gave him a subtle nod. So he was taking this down… "You just confirmed it for me though. So who and why?"

Hokuto laughed. "I can't answer either, but I think you'll find out quickly. Now, I shall begin my turn. I set the continuous spell Sword of the Stellarknights! Once per turn, I can special summon one of my "tellarknight" monsters from my hand, but it is destroyed at the end of the turn! I will special summon my Satellarknight Alsahm _(4*/1400/1800/LIGHT/Warrior/Effect)_ to the field!" A knight with two large shoulders (seriously, they looked like jetpacks) appeared. "When Alsahm is summoned, you take 1000 damage! Star Arrow!"

The monster fired an arrow at him and Yuto winced—he knew that Real Solid Vision would hurt like hell, but that actually felt like he was shot!

 **Yuto Sakaki: 4000 - 1000 = 3000 LP**

"I'm not done! I Normal Summon Satellarknight Vega _(4*/1200/1600/LIGHT/Warrior/Effect)_ to my field as well!" Another knight appeared, although this one was taller and had a ring running around its waist. "When Vega is summoned, I can special summon a "tellarknight" from my hand once per turn! I will special summon Satellarknight Capella _(4*/1100/2000/LIGHT/Warrior/Effect)_ from my hand!" A knight that looked like a grown up Alsahm this time—how many did this guy have? Well, he wasn't one to talk...

"Looks like Shijima is preparing to summon that thing."

"That knight? Oh, it wiped out all my monsters!"

Yuto overheard some students talking in the stands. This wasn't good…

"Prepare yourself, knight of darkness, for the power of the light! When Capella is used in a Xyz Summon with three or more materials, all materials can be treated as Level 5! I overlay them all! Ruler of a legion of stars, descend with your radiant light—and banish the darkness! Xyz Summon! Rank 5! Stellarknight Constellar Diamond!" _(R5/2700/ 2000/LIGHT/Wyrm/Xyz/Effect)_

Unlike his own Xyz, the monsters all began shining with light and the light all merged into one shining figure. The monster that emerged was not a knight, but a dragon, one with shining midnight-like wings lined with shining star silver.

This was Hokuto's ace, huh?

He heard his own dragon's cry and grinned. "You'll get your turn, don't you worry."

"Unfortunately, it won't!" He heard Hokuto say, and was momentarily confused before he realised that the boy probably thought he was talking to Break Sword. "I activate the spell card Stellar Lifebreak! I can detach an Overlay Unit from a "tellarknight" monster on my field to destroy a card on the field! I will destroy Break Sword!"

The monster was shot with a bright laser, but Yuto remained unperturbed, even smiling. "When Break Sword is destroyed, I can special summon its materials and increase their levels by one! Phantom Resurrection!" His monsters appeared in defence position.

"Tsk. So you escaped a direct attack… Stellarknight Constellar Diamond will attack your Ragged Gloves! Crystal Laser!" The monster was obliterated immediately. "You're lucky. I'll defeat you next turn—"

"Yuto won't lose to you!" He hears Yuya shout from the waiting room. He smiled—and then his smile vanished as he saw Hokuto's eyes narrow and his lips mouth out 'Yuya Sakaki' in the most derisive way possible—

Three things happened at once.

The soda bottle in Yugo's hands crumpled in his clenched fists.

Yuri's hands slid around a secret bag in his cape.

And Yuto—

"Keep your eyes on me," he said. He barely recognised the dark snarl as his own voice. Everyone's eyes immediately looked at him—including his astonished opponent.

At that moment, the slightly aggressive if polite boy had been unrecognisable.

"I am your opponent. Not anybody else. Certainly not Yuya. Now end your turn." His rage could easily be heard in his voice. "Never look at him that way again."

A loud roar came from his dragon, one only he could hear. Hokuto snapped back to attention. "I… I end my turn."

"My turn. Draw. The spell, Phantom Knights Cloak. This turn, if I have two or more cards set on my field, my monsters are unaffected by card effects." How could they judge Yuya like that? Nothing was Yuya's fault, it had never been… especially not that. "From my hand, I Normal Summon The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm. _(4*/1500/500/DARK/Warrior/Effect)_ " He glared at Hokuto. "For that look you gave him, I will drive you into hell with my favourite monster. I overlay my two Level 4 monsters!" A dark vortex formed behind him, lightning flying out of it wildly.

At that moment, his dragon's roar rose to its highest pitch.

At that moment, to the students, Yuto Sakaki resembled a maddened thunder god.

"Formed from pitch-black darkness, to fight those foolish enough to oppose it with its treacherous fangs! Now, descend!"

The students muttered among themselves as the lightning struck uncomfortably close to them.

"Hey," a blue haired student pointed out with a frown. "When did the sky…" All the students looked up to see that somehow in a few seconds, the sky had been filled with storm clouds. Seemingly unaffected by all this, Yuto continued his chant.

"Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon! _(R4/2500/2000/DARK/Dragon/Xyz/Effect)_ "

The bipedal dragon emerged from the vortex, letting out its fearsome roar—this time, for all to hear. Its faded black and purple body curved as it bared its fangs at Hokuto. The lightning curved around Dark Rebellion and him, although it didn't shock either of them.

"Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon's effect! I detach two Overlay Units to halve your monsters' attack and add it to Dark Rebellion! Treason Discharge!" _(Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon: 2500 + 1350 = 3850ATK)_

Lightning flew out of the monster's scales, burning all around the star dragon which let out a screech of agony. _(Stellarknight Constellar Diamond: 2700/2 = 1350ATK)_

* * *

In the stands, a pink haired girl shuddered. "That dragon… it wishes to destroy everything… it's so angry."

"No." The girl next to her shook her head, her black ponytail swinging along her shoulder. "It doesn't wish to destroy everything. It's… it's afraid to lose everything. It wants to protect what it cares for, and it doesn't care if it has to steal its enemy's strength to do it. I can respect that."

The pink haired girl stared at her. "Whatever you say, I guess." She rolled her eyes. "I wonder how you can see that though."

"I wonder why you can't," the second girl said absentmindedly, never taking her eyes off the black dragon. "This is about to get interesting."

* * *

"I will activate my traps, Phantom Knights Sword. They will both increase Dark Rebellion's attack by 800 each." _(Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon: 3850 + 800 + 800 = 5450ATK)_ He nodded to Dark Rebellion. "You and me, partner… Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon will attack your Stellarknight Constellar Diamond!"

He focused all his rage. Just this once.

"Rebellious Lightning Disobey!"

Dark Rebellion rose into the air, firing down a flurry of bolts—and finally one dark ball of electricity, mixed with slight silver. The wyrm monster burst into dust, and one of the bolts narrowly missed Hokuto, hitting the wall behind him.

 **Hokuto Shijima: 4000 - 4100 = 0LP**

 **[Winner: Yuto Sakaki!]** The robot announced. Yuto walked towards Hokuto, who had fallen in shock and offered his hand. Hokuto gave him a strangely unreadable look, before accepting the hand and getting pulled to his feet. "I do think you are a decent person, Shijima-kun." He said quietly. "But I can't let any insult, no matter how small, slide. If we let a look pass, it might be words next, or worse—" he cuts himself off, releasing the boy's hand and beginning to walk away.

"Sakaki!" He heard Hokuto shout. "Call me Hokuto. I can understand why. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Yuto paused. How should he respond to this? Yuya gave him an encouraging look from the waiting area and he sighed. So forgiving… he would be happy that Yuya thought that highly of him in any other situation.

What he would do…

He smiled. "Call me Yuto." He replied. "And for what it's worth—you're not the first, nor will you be the last." He walked back to the stands and sat down in as empty a spot as he could find.

Geez… Yuya was the only subject that could make him break his composure, huh? That much was the same for two other people here.

"Good luck, Yugo."

* * *

"Good luck, Yugo!" Yuya said with a bright smile.

"Win, Fusion." Yuri said at the same time with his classic smirk.

For once, Yugo didn't blow up at the words. He simply grinned. "Of course! I'll definitely win, so watch me!"

What Yugo didn't say was that all of them were slightly rattled. They had moved all the way to Domino from Maiami just to escape the mutters and whispers. Yuri hated that it had all been in vain. These bugs!... Damn it… he hoped that Yugo would finish off his opponent quickly. He would do the same.

See if anyone would dare to come after them after that.

They will absolutely protect Yuya this time.

 **A/N: So yeah! This is my first attempt at a Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic! I hope this will be a nice read to everyone… and I hope I'll continue having fun writing it!**

 _Chapter Preview: Chapter 2–Clear Wings and Dripping Fangs_

 _Yugo and Yuri have their Entrance Exams, as the tension at the presence of the Sakaki brothers builds up, with people demanding they leave. Then, someone stands up!..._

 **See you around, guys!**

 **-Blaise**

 **Edit: (8/7/19) Centralised the life points and placed a few spaces to make the paragraphs look a bit better.**


	2. Chapter 2: Clear Wings & Dripping Fangs

"So… you're Yugo Sakaki?"

Yugo gave a thumbs up. "The one and only! And hey, you didn't get my name wrong! I like you, um—"

"Yaiba Todo," the brunette supplied. "Second year here, and friends with that guy your brother Yuto just savagely beat into the ground." Despite the words, the boy smiled. "I personally have no vendetta against you four, but I have orders, so—"

"Let's go!" Yugo cut the boy off. "We don't have time, and if the grinning bastard gets impatient," he jerked his hand towards Yuri, "none of us will be able to stop him." (That's honestly not true, but he doesn't want to listen to the boy continue prattling on with his excuses. Yugo Sakaki is a lot of things, but patient is not one of them. Especially not when someone is trying to justify this unfairness.) "Duel!"

 **[Duel Mode Randomised—zzt—Master Mode.]** The computer buzzes out. **[Candidate Yugo Sakaki, please start.]**

 **Yugo Sakaki: 4000 LP**

 **Yaiba Todo: 4000 LP**

This hand… well he might as well go all out! _Yuya, watch me…_ "With the Scale 3 Speedroid Passinglider _(5*/S3/2200/2000/WIND/Machine/Pendulum/Effect)_ and the Scale 8 Speedroid Dominobutterfly _(2*/S8/100/300/WIND/Machine/Tuner/Pendulum/ Effect)_ , I set the Pendulum Scales!"

* * *

"Pendulum…"

Yuzu Kurosaki had never really pegged herself for someone superstitious, but there was something extremely familiar about those two Scales—something kind, friendly, concerned. It confused her.

"Yuzu? You alright?" She heard Rin say, and she nodded.

"Sorry. Spaced out a little. It's rare to see Pendulums."

Rin nodded, turning back to the duel—and catching sight of a certain black haired girl walking towards the bottom of the stands. She grinned. "I'm surprised Shun hasn't murdered that boy yet," she remarked.

Yuzu shushed her immediately. The two glanced to the side to see their older brother typing up a document on his computer. "He doesn't know." She hissed, trying to keep her voice low. The two quickly turned back to the duel, trying not to look suspicious.

* * *

"Pendulum Summon! Come to me, my monsters! Speedroid Pachingo-Kart! _(4*/1800/1000/WIND/Machine/Effect)_ And then I will Normal Summon Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice _(1*/100/100/WIND/Machine/Tuner/Effect)_ from my hand!" He reached out his hand. "Alright, let's do this!" His Speedroids let out sounds of enthusiasm. "That's the spirit! I will activate Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice's effect! Once per turn, I can change a "Speedroid" on my field to a level from Level 1 to 6! I will change Speedroid Pachingo-Kart's level to Level 5!"

"Changing a Level… you're a Synchro user, huh?" Yaiba said.

"Sure am! And now, I'll bring out one of my prized Synchro monsters! I tune my Level 1 Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice to my Level 5 Speedroid Pachingo-Kart! Magical sword with the form of a cross. Use your power to destroy our enemies! Synchro Summon! Appear now—Level 6! Hi-Speedroid Kendama!" _(6*/2200/1600/WIND/Machine/ Synchro/Effect)_

The monster flew out of the Synchro rings, an epic looking knight monster with two shields and a long lance in front of it.

The moment of awesome was ruined as Yuri muttered "Kendama" in a strangely audible tone—somehow even the people at the top of the stands could hear it—followed by "It's a toy, it's not epic. It's a toy." Yuto facepalmed as Yugo spun around and gave Yuri a glare.

"Shut up, cabbage head."

"Make me, fruit salad."

There was an awkward silence as the two glared at each other, before Yaiba cleared his throat. "Could we continue, please?"

"Right! Sorry, sorry." Yugo glanced back at the field. "What was I doing?... ah. Now, since it's the first turn, I can't attack you—but I can at least deal you a bit of damage! Hi-Speedroid Kendama's effect! I banish a Machine-type monster from my graveyard to deal you 500 damage! Rev it up, Kendama! I banish Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice from my graveyard! Brutal Swing!" The lance swung itself forward, creating a small shockwave.

 **Yaiba Todo: 4000 - 500 = 3500LP**

"I end my turn!" Yugo gave an impish smile. "So, what have you got for me? Bring it!"

"Looks like you're getting heated up." Yaiba smirked. "I guess it's up to me to keep this duel fun then! I draw!" At the sight of the card, his smirk widened. "I got a good card. Activate—Heavy Storm!"

"Heavy Storm? I've heard of that card, but I have no spells or traps! Using it now is—"

At the words he said, his brothers all reacted in mixes of exasperation and amusement. Yuto quietly smacked his head on the chair in front of him, while Yuri facepalmed. Yuya simply sighed and when Yugo looked back towards him, showed one of his Pendulum monsters, pointing to the bottom of the card.

Yugo blinked in confusion—and then he realised. "Oh." Just as he spoke, his Scales were swept away by the storm conjured by his opponent's spell card.

Yaiba gave an amused grin. "You and your brothers should consider forming a circus act. You can consider it after I expel you. I will Normal Summon XX-Saber Boggart Knight _(4*/1900/1000/EARTH/Warrior/Effect)_ from my hand." A warrior in silver armor with a long red cloak appeared. When I Normal Summon this card, I can special summon a Level 4 or lower X-Saber monster from my hand! I will Special Summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight _(3*/1300/1000/EARTH/Warrior/Tuner/Effect)_ from my hand!" This time, the monster that appeared was a younger version of the earlier monster, with long blond hair and a derpy smile on its face.

"X-Saber, huh? Nice! Your monsters are almost as cool as my Speedroids!" Yugo praised with an enthusiastic laugh.

Yaiba shook his head. "I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks. It appears that other than the 'cool' monsters, as you call them, we share our specialty. I—tune the Level 3 Fulhelmknight to the Level 4 Boggart Knight! Wielder of crossed blades of light, trample over this mountain of corpses! Synchro Summon! Come forth, Level 7! X-Saber Souza!" _(7*/2500/1600/EARTH/Warrior/Synchro/Effect)_

Yugo watched as the monsters disappeared into rings—and then, a scarred, older warrior appeared, a long flowing ruby cape streaming out behind him. "Damn… Clear Wing, are you seeing this? We get to fight that!" His dragon let out an enthusiastic roar, though only he could hear it. "Yeah, it's super cool!"

Yaiba chuckled. "Then I'll have it show you its power! Attack his monster, Souza! Death Saber!"

The toy knight was destroyed, and Yugo received part of the impact as the sword swept across them.

 **Yugo Sakaki: 4000 - 300 = 3700LP**

The other boy placed one card on his duel disk. "I set one card and end. Well, I've emptied your field. How will you face me now, Yugo Sakaki?"

"How? I don't know. But I will definitely defeat you!" _I can use Kendama's effect… but I need a Tuner! I need… as much as I hate to say it, I need that card._ "Draw!" He glanced at the card and laughed. Yuto had insisted he add it just in case… he hadn't actually expected the advice to help. As much as he hated to admit it, perhaps the eggplant had a point after all. "Kendama won't be stopped here! Since I control no cards, I can special summon it! However, I cannot normal summon this turn! Let's rev it up, Kendama! Return to Origin!" The toy knight reappeared. "Bet you didn't expect that!"

"Actually, I did! You were a little too calm, so I prepared a little something just in case. Trap card open—Saber Break! When my opponent special summons a monster, I can activate it! You take damage equal to the summoned monster's attack!" A shockwave hit him.

 **Yugo Sakaki: 3700 - 2200 = 1500LP**

He laughed a bit more. Hopefully, Yuto wouldn't lord it over him too much. "When I take damage outside the battle phase, I can special summon Speedroid Mecha Prize _(1*/100/100/WIND/Machine/Tuner/Effect)_ to the field! If I summoned it with this effect, I immediately perform a Synchro Summon with it and other WIND monsters on my field!"

"What?" Yaiba said with a shocked look. "Then you used my strategy to carry on yours?"

"I tune the Level 1 Speedroid Mecha Prize to the Level 6 Hi-Speedroid Kendama! Spread those wondrous and beautiful wings, and strike down your enemies at the speed of light! Synchro Summon! Appear now—Level 7, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon! _(7*/2500/2000/WIND/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)_ His dragon flew out of the green Synchro rings, zooming down next to him and letting out a triumphant roar. He laughed, turning back—

Only to see half the crowd shrink backwards. Yaiba gave him an alarmed look. "Your dragon isn't anything like your brother's, right?"

He laughed. The very idea! "Nah, the others have attitude problems. Clear Wing is quite forgiving—like me." He winked. "Give a nice cheer to everyone, Clear Wing!"

Clear Wing let out a loud—and extremely overpowering roar.

* * *

Yuto sighed. "He does realise he's making them even more scared, right? Geez, that oblivious—"

"Can I sit here?" A gentle voice said. He turned to see a girl with black hair and an extremely cute smile and what was he thinking—

"Of course. I'm—"

"Yuto Sakaki-kun." The girl's smile brightened as she sat down. "Everyone knows, I think. That was a nice duel down there."

"T-thanks. What's your name?" He fought down the blush—there was no need to give Yuri more teasing material than he already had.

"Ruri Kurosaki." She said—was that a blush, no he was definitely just imagining it. She gestured to the duel. "Let's watch it! I'm sure your brothers will put up a good show too!"

Right. Yugo had used that card.

Yuto felt strangely relieved. Probably just exhaustion from his brothers. Nothing to do with the fact that Yugo had actually listened to him.

Nothing at all.

* * *

"Mecha Prize's Effect! I can banish it to give the monster it Synchro Summoned 1000 extra attack points! _(Clear Wing Synchro Dragon: 2500 + 1000 = 3500ATK)_ Go, Clear Wing! Take out Souza—Helldive Whirlwind Slasher!" The dragon offered its equivalent of a grin, before diving down and flying straight into the warrior, destroying it.

 **Yaiba Todo: 3500 - 1000 = 2500LP**

"I set one card and end my turn." The two cards—Mecha Prize and his set card had been suggested by Yuto and Yuri. Time to see if the second would help.

" _You're so proud of your dragon's 'amazing' abilities, huh?... use this. Your opponents will know how to avoid or even use Clear Wing's effect against you after the first time they see it. So you have to use their pathetic ignorance against them—you have to seize that first chance."_

Time to see if Yuri had actually been helpful.

"My turn! Draw!" Yaiba grinned. "Just what I needed! I activate the spell card, Re-Synchro! I can banish the materials used to Synchro Summon a Synchro monster in my graveyard to special summon that Synchro Monster! I will special summon X-Saber Souza from my graveyard! You tried your best, but I shall be the one to draw the curtains on this duel! I shall Normal Summon another XX-Saber Fulhelmknight! I activate Souza's effect! I tribute Fulhelmknight to give it the effect to destroy your monster before damage calculation!"

"Nope. It's over for you!" Yugo shouted, his voice full of enthusiasm. "The effect of Clear Wing Synchro Dragon activates! When a Level 5 or higher monster activates its effect, I negate that effect and destroy it! Then, Clear Wing gains attack equal to that monster's attack! Dichroic Mirror!" _(Clear Wing Synchro Dragon: 2500 + 2500 = 5000ATK)_ Before the other boy could react, he flipped his trap card face up. "Counter Trap activate! Synchro Mirror! When a Dragon-type Synchro monster on my field gains attack due to an effect, I can deal you damage equal to that change!"

"What?!"

"Didn't expect that, did you? Take this damage and lose! Go, Clear Wing! Once again—Helldive Whirlwind Slasher!" His dragon followed his words, sending a large wave of wind at his opponent and knocking the boy down.

 **Yaiba Todo: 2500 - 2500 = 0LP**

"Oh, the idiot used my card?" Yuri commented. "That's unexpected. Perhaps there's hope for him yet."

Yaiba sat there frozen, before laughing. "Well done! You truly do deserve to be here, Yugo Sakaki!" He walked over and offered his hand. "No hard feelings?"

Yugo shook it with a large grin. "None! You're pretty cool yourself, Todo-senpai!" He let go, moving towards the stands and sat down next to Yuto. There was a black haired girl there, and he waved to her. "Hi! Did you see that finishing move?"

"Of course!" She said with a smile. "It was quite good. I assume you spent the whole turn preparing for that? That was a bit too perfect of a finish."

"Yep!" _And I accomplished it thanks to those two cards… maybe they aren't that annoying after all._

* * *

"It looks like Hokuto-san and Yaiba-san were unable to kick those Sakakis out after all. Damn it!" A blonde man punched the wall—before wincing and pulling back. "Oww… I thought it would hurt less."

"Are you alright?" He heard. From behind him, a black haired girl was watching the duel field.

"Why, of course! You'll be taking on the third one, Masumi-san. A Yuri." He sniffed. "Make him regret coming here."

"Relax, Chronos-sensei. I won't lose to anyone. You know how crafty I can be." Masumi stood up. "By the way, Tenjoin-sensei wants to talk to you later."

"Asuka?" He asked, but Masumi had already left. "Damn it… ah, I have nothing to worry about. This Yuri will lose, and the Sakakis will stay out of my school!" He cackled. "Now, time to watch this boy lose pathetically…"

* * *

"So you're my opponent?" Yuri asked. "Xyz to Xyz, Synchro to Synchro… can I assume you're a Fusion user? And that you've researched our decks?"

"All similarities are purely coincidental, I assure you." The black haired girl shrugged. "I certainly wouldn't stand for any cheating. I want to beat you fairly. So, I assume your questions imply that you're a Fusion user like me? I enjoyed your brothers' duels, but I'll have words with those two idiots for losing to first years later."

"Yikes, scary." Yuri teased. "I'd better help them by beating you then."

"Try if you can," Masumi smirked. "I'm better than both of them—and I'll prove it here. Come on! Duel!"

 **[Duel Mode—Master Mode!]**

Yuri raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, definitely hacked." He suppressed his urge to drop the easygoing facade. "That bot is definitely hacked to put us all in Master Mode."

"And if so?" The girl's smirk stayed. "Would you prefer a switch? Just say so."

"Oh, of course not." He returned a smirk. "I suppose this is a decent handicap. Do you need anything else to make this a more even match? Baby pacifiers?"

The girl's face flushed red in irritation and embarrassment. She walked over and tossed the bot out of the field. Yuri whistled—strong. "Let's have a normal mode duel." She said icily. "Since that's what you want so much, Yuri Sakaki."

"That's the spirit. Duel!"

 **Yuri Sakaki: 4000 LP**

 **Masumi Kotsu: 4000 LP**

Masumi Kotsu, huh? "The handsome before the weak," he said sweetly. "I will Normal Summon Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio _(4*/1200/800/DARK/Plant/Effect)_ from my hand." The monster that appeared was an almost innocuous looking plant—and then it started moving, its roots rising up to reveal a scorpion-like body with the smaller roots serving as its legs. It was beautiful to Yuri, the plant. But he was getting carried away. "I will activate Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio's Effect. When Summoned, once per turn I can discard a monster from my hand to special summon a "Predaplant" monster from the deck. I will Special Summon Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra _(3*/1000/1500/DARK/ Plant/Effect)_ from my deck!"

This monster at first appeared to be a simple purple flower with a long stem. Then, the stem began stretching upwards, up and up… and then it let out a hiss, the flower's petals darkening as the other end of the stem revealed itself as a snake head.

He gave the monsters a fond grin. "Cobra will add Polymerisation to my hand."

Masumi's eyes narrowed. "Is it coming? The Fusion Summon?"

There is no reason to bring out Starving Venom now. Far too early, and the prey hasn't managed to entertain him yet. "I end my turn by setting a card! Your turn!" He smirked. "Please make it fun."

"I will certainly crush you. If you get your kicks out of that… well, I won't judge." She shot back. "Let me show you how I use Fusion. Draw! I activate the continuous spell card Brilliant Fusion! On activation, this card sends materials from the deck to the graveyard to Fusion Summon! I will send Gem-Knight Lazuli _(1*/600/100/EARTH/Rock/Effect)_ and Satellarknight Alsahm _(4*/1400/1800/LIGHT/Warrior/Effect)_ to the graveyard!"

(Satellarknight… the Xyz second year's cards, huh? She must be quite good friends with him… well, he'll follow the pattern his brothers have already set up and beat the crap out of her.)

"Knight of the stars and knight of sparkling blue! Become one, and bring forth the knight with glowing wings! Fusion Summon—Gem-Knight Seraphinite!" _(5*/2300/ 1400/EARTH/Fairy/Fusion)_ She called. A knight with long wings and a flowing two coloured cape—blue and silver—appeared. "Due to Brilliant Fusion, Seraphinite loses all its attack and defence points."

"Then what's the use?... is what I would say if I was a certain banana haired moron. But I'm guessing that the points don't matter if you are so willing to throw them away."

"Correct. So you're not completely dumb. Seraphinite allows me to perform an extra Normal Summon every turn. I will normal summon Gem-Knight Amber _(4*/1600/1400/EARTH/Thunder/Gemini)_ and Gem-Knight Alexandrite _(4*/1800/1200/EARTH/Rock/Effect)_ to my field." She smirked. "And now, once again—I play Polymerisation! I fuse Amber and Alexandrite with the Gem-Knight Sapphire! _(4*/0/2100/EARTH/Aqua)_ Gem of prehistoric orange! Gem that shines bright white! Gem of the deep sea! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance!" She snapped her fingers. "Fusion Summon! This is my true ace! Appear, dazzling lady—Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond!" _(10*/3400/2000/EARTH/Rock/Fusion/Effect)_

A woman glowing with pure white light appeared out of the Fusion Vortex, swinging her rapier forward. Yuri whistled. "Not bad."

Masumi grinned. "Have I got you dazzled? You had better be! Now, Lady Brilliant Diamond will pull her favourite trick! Once per turn, I can tribute a "Gem-Knight" monster on my field to special summon a "Gem-Knight" monster from my Extra Deck ignoring all summoning conditions! I will tribute Seraphinite to special summon Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli _(5*/2400/1000/EARTH/Rock/Fusion/Effect)_ from the Extra Deck!" A lady in a dark blue robe appeared.

"Wait… that's two Extra Deck monsters. Were you planning to change the duel mode anyway?" He saw the girl smile. Damn, not bad… a decent Fusion, and tricking him into demanding she do something she was already going to do…

"Lady Lapis Lazuli's Effect. I send a "Gem-Knight" from my Extra Deck or Deck to the graveyard to deal you 500 damage for each special summoned monster on the field! I'll send Gem-Knight Garnet from my Deck to the graveyard. Lady Lapis Lazuli, Lady Brilliant Diamond and your Darlingtonia Cobra. Three—take this 1500 damage! Lazuli Blast!"

The blue robed woman raised her hand and azure bullets struck him all over. Yuri winced a little.

 **Yuri Sakaki: 4000 - 1500 = 2500LP**

"Now, Battle Phase! Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli will attack your Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra!"

"You're a step behind me! Trap card activate—Predaplant Seeds! This turn, I take no damage from battles involving "Predap" monsters I control, and they cannot be destroyed!"

"I end my turn."

"Then it's mine! Draw!" He gave a bright smile at the sight of it.

"That's a creepy look." Masumi commented. Yuri's eyebrows twitched as he heard a certain idiot's "Damn straight!" from the crowd.

"Alright then. Now—Polymerisation, activate! I'll fuse Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra and Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio! These plants combine to form the deadliest of poisons! Fusion Summon! Level 7, Predaplant Chimerafflesia!" _(7*/2500/2000/DARK/Plant/Fusion/Effect)_ He grinned even more when his monster appears and the girl's expression contorted with disgust. "Don't like it? I suppose you'll have to tolerate it for a while."

Lady Lapis Lazuli was a Level Five, was she not? So that meant that if he wanted, he could easily get rid of it with Chimerafflesia's effect and limit Masumi's options even more… but that would make this a lot less fun.

"Battle! Predaplant Chimerafflesia will attack Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond!"

"Committing suicide?"

"Hardly. When Chimerafflesia battles, it can gain 1000 attack and cause your monster to lose 1000. Mow it down, Chimerafflesia! Rotting Drain!"

Vines shot out from the monster, wrapping around the knight as she slowly grew paler and eventually disappeared.

 **Masumi Kotsu: 4000 - 1100 = 2900LP**

"I set a card and end. Come on, Kotsu-senpai," his voice dripped with sarcasm, "What will you do?"

"Don't look down on me! Draw!... I set one card facedown. Lady Lapis Lazuli's effect. I'll send another Garnet. Lazuli Blast!"

 **Yuri Sakaki: 2500 - 1000 = 1500LP**

"I end my turn."

"I guess that's all you can do. Draw. I will play the spell card Polymerisation for the second time. I will fuse the Predaplant Chimerafflesia on my field with the Predaplant Spinodionaea _(4*/1800/0/DARK/Plant/Effect)_ in my hand! Two beautiful flowers with an insect-alluring fragrance! Now become one, and from the hell beneath your petals, give birth to a new terror! Fusion Summon!"

(He gives the brightest smirk he can as his dragon roars in his mind. Privately, he wonders whether Starving Venom is alright with being used on such rabble, but another roar from his dragon causes him to smile.)

"Appear! Poisonous dragon with hungry fangs—Level 8! Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!" _(8*/2800/2000/DARK/Dragon/Fusion/Effect)_

His ace appeared next to him in an elaborate flurry of scarlet petals—Starving Venom always did love the dramatics.

Starving Venom, the one who understood him the most. He nodded to it as it let out an affectionate roar. "Let's do this. When Starving Venom Fusion Dragon is successfully Fusion Summoned, it gains the attack of a Special Summoned monster on your field. Your Lady Lapis Lazuli is my only target, so it'll have to do. So Starving Venom's attack goes up to 5200–Hungry Fang! _(Starving Venom Fusion Dragon: 2800 + 2400 = 5200ATK)_ But that's not enough. I'll play the spell card Ester Infusion. I banish a Plant monster from my graveyard and a DARK monster on the field gains that monster's attack. I'll banish Predaplant Chimerafflesia. That's 5200 plus 2500–which adds up to 7700! Feast, my hungry dragon!"

Starving Venom was surrounded in a dark aura as it gained the effects of the spell. _(Starving Venom Fusion Dragon: 5200 + 2500 = 7700ATK)_

"Finish her, Starving Venom! Toxic Spore!" His dragon soared towards Masumi's side of the field.

"I won't go down to a hasty strike like that! I activate the trap card Magic Cylinder! I negate the attack and deal you damage equal to your monster's attack! You lose!"

"Who's being hasty? You've got to try way better than that. I'll activate the counter trap Solemn Judgement which I set last turn! When a monster would be summoned or a spell or trap is activated, I pay half my life and negate it!" A lightning bolt struck down the set of cylinders.

"What?!"

 **Yuri Sakaki: 1500/2 = 750LP**

"The attack continues! Do it!"

Starving Venom's attack made contact with the girl's monster, and the monster melted away.

 **Masumi Kotsu: 2900 - 5300 = 0LP**

He ignored the robot telling him to go to the stands, walking over to where Masumi had fallen on the floor and offering her a hand.

"Ugh, there goes my pride… I can stand up by myself." She got up. "Good match, Sakaki. I assume that terrifying dragon was your ace?"

"Aww, you'll make Starving Venom blush." He said with his smirk still on his face. "Yes, and please call me Yuri."

The moment was spoiled by everybody around them suddenly making a huge fuss, and Yuri immediately knew what they had seen. They had seen Yuya Sakaki appear. They had seen him walk in and started booing, and how dare they—

"Get off the field!"

"How dare you show your face?"

"Do you have no shame?"

"Get—"

"Shut up!" Someone interrupted before Yuri could introduce all the naysayers to his dragon's enormous jaws. The voice came from an indigo haired girl at the top of the crowd, with a yellow ribbon in her hair. "Have we fallen so far, Academia? We judge by a person's duel, and who they are right now! Let him prove himself!"

There was silence, some ashamed, some irritated. Yuri gave the girl a thankful nod, before he turned to his brother. "Take this, Yuya." He placed his dragon in Yuya's hand. "Win."

His brother looked down, slightly demoralised. "Yuri, I…"

"Why are you looking that down?" Another girl shouted—the same face as the earlier girl, but pink haired. "If you don't fight with your all, you can't change how everyone thinks! Duel!"

"What the lady said, Yuya. Don't disappoint her." He said teasingly. "Dark Rebellion and Clear Wing will watch over you too, just like the two blockheads up there. Make everyone smile."

Ugh, so sappy… but the way Yuya's face lit up made it at least a little worth it. "Yeah!"

He saw a blonde haired… woman? Man? A blonde haired joke walked into the field. He threw one final glare at the thing.

Yuya will not lose.

 **A/N:** **Ok so I was planning to post this earlier, but real life stuff got in the way. So yeah, here is Chapter 2! Sorry it took so long. I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks a lot for reading! So anyway, here's the Chapter 3 preview~**

 _Chapter Preview: Chapter 3–Wavering Eyes_

 _Yuya takes his Entrance Exam, duelling against one of the Duelling Professors, Professor Chronos de Medici. Yuya conducts his entertainment duel, trying to bring smiles and show Academia that he is no longer the same as before..._

 **Once again, thanks for reading! I hope to see you soon, if real life permits it. (^_^;) Have a good day!**

 **-Blaise**

 **Edit: (8/7/19) Changed some tense errors in the chapter in Yugo's section, added a bit of description, centralised the life points in both duels. Enjoy :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Wavering Eyes

"So you're Yuya Sakaki, huh?" The teacher sneered. "I am Professor Chronos di Medici, and I will be your examiner. Prepare yourself to lose."

Yuya gulped. Everything was fine. He just had to win and everything would be fine. So… he would show everyone his way of duelling.

 **[Duel Mode Randomised. Mode: Master Mode.]** The computer announced. Yep, Yuri was right. This was definitely fixed to put them at a disadvantage. Or perhaps, with the fact that the teacher seemed so disdainful of him and had come to face him personally… could he have known that Yuya was a Pendulum user and set the mode accordingly to disadvantage him?

Argh, so many questions. He would just have to talk to Chronos after this. (If the other would even listen to him, a part of his mind sneered at him.) "Duel!"

 **Yuya Sakaki: 4000LP**

 **Chronos di Medici: 4000LP**

"I'll start!" Yuya winked, smiling. He still didn't do so well in Master Mode, despite his brothers attempting to help him to get used to only being able to revive one monster from the Extra Deck. "I'll Normal Summon Performapal Skullcrobat Joker _(4*/1800/100/DARK/Spellcaster/Pendulum/ Effect)_ from my hand. "Then, I'll activate Skullcrobat Joker's effect. When Normal Summoned, I can add a "Performapal", "Odd-Eyes" or "Magician" Pendulum Monster from my deck to my hand."

He hesitated. It kind of terrified him to make this next move, because of how the crowd might react to his own dragon. He didn't remember the incident that they were booing him over, but he does know a little about it, and he knew his dragon had a huge part in the incident…

Starving Venom growled in his Extra Deck. " **What are you doing? Odd Eyes trusts you, just like we trust you!"**

Odd Eyes… he gave it a nod of thanks. "I will add Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon _(7*/2500/2000/ DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_ to my hand!"

As expected, the name brought up a bit of stir in the crowd. However, the death glare that Yuto fixed on the loudest students at least kept the peace. Yuya turned back to his cards, before the teacher spoke up. "An Xyz Dragon, a Synchro Dragon, a Fusion Dragon and a Pendulum Dragon… where did your dragons come from?"

"These dragons? They're our soul cards, obviously." He said softly. Having Odd Eyes with him gave him an odd sense of comfort.

Soul cards were the cards that were quite frankly suited to the person who they were given to. At ten years old (or maybe a bit older, he and his brothers had received theirs at eleven) people went to the Temple of Horakhty and they received a basic deck from the goddess herself. Any new cards that duelists got were either generic cards that anyone could use—in other words, made by humans—or evolutions of the original Duel Monsters they had.

Performapal…

"I will now show everyone a beautiful Pendulum Summon! I will set the Scale 3 Performapal Seal Eel _(1*/S3/100/100/WATER/Fish/Pendulum/Effect)_ and the Scale 8 Odd-Eyes Arc Pendulum Dragon _(7*/S8/2800/2000/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_ in the Pendulum Scales! Sway, pendulum that casts the arc of light! With the set Pendulum Scales, I can Pendulum Summon monsters from Level 4 to 7! I will Pendulum Summon! Come, my monsters! Performapal Skeeter Skimmer _(4*/500/1600/WATER/Insect/ Effect)_ and the one, the only Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

Skeeter Skimmer, an orange mosquito with long gloved legs and a tiny hat on its head appears. Meanwhile, next to it, a scarlet-scaled dragon appeared, swinging its long, scaly tail around with a loud roar. Its dual coloured eyes locked onto Chronos with a slightly lower-pitched growl.

Then, it moved next to Yuya and licked his cheek, before wrapping its tail around Yuya and pulling him onto its back with a smile. He laughed, petting its back. "Yeah, it's nice to see you too, Odd Eyes. I end my turn."

The teacher sneered, drawing a card. "I'll send you home crying along with those brothers of yours, tomato boy. Draw! I will play the spell card Polymerisation to fuse the Ancient Gear Gadget _(4*/500/2000/EARTH/Machine/Effect)_ and the Ancient Gear Frame _(4*/1600/500/ EARTH/Machine/Effect)_ in my hand!" He smirked. "Come on out! Fusion Summon! Level 8—Ancient Gear Howitzer!" _(8*/1000/1800/EARTH/Machine/Fusion/Effect)_

Yuya stared, impressed. An immediate Fusion Summon… but why was it in defence position?

"Howitzer's effect! During my Main Phase, I can deal you 1000 damage once per turn!" He pointed at Yuya. "Hunting Howl!" True to what he said, the monster let out a loud howl, shooting out shrapnel towards him. Yuya held up his hands, blocking the shrapnel. A few small cuts were formed on his arms, and he idly wondered how no one had sued for injuries with Solid Vision yet.

 **Yuya Sakaki: 4000 - 1000 = 3000LP**

"I set one card and end my turn. Over to you, Sakaki."

"My turn! Draw!" He smiled at the card. Starving Venom really wants to help him, huh… and so does Yuri. "I will answer your Fusion with my own, Chronos-sensei! I'll play the spell card Polymerisation! I will fuse the Performapal Skullcrobat Joker and the Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon on my field!" He jumped off Odd Eyes before the dragon flew into the fusion vortex. He clasped his hands together. "Joker spellcaster who dances on the stage! Become one with two different colored eyes and point to a new path! Now become one, and from the hell beneath your petals, give birth to a new terror! Fusion Summon!" He gave a bright smile.

If he smiles, he can make everyone else smile too.

He will keep on believing that.

"Appear! Poisonous dragon with hungry fangs—Level 8! Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!" _(8*/2800/2000/DARK/Dragon/Fusion/Effect)_

* * *

"You gave him your dragon?" Yuto said, looking over. "That's a good idea. I should have too."

Yuri shrugged. "Yes." He looked back down at his youngest brother standing next to his fierce dragon. He felt… proud? Happy? For a moment, Yuya looked up to him and smiled, giving him a victory sign and a wink. His dragon let out a loud, protective roar, its wings flaring out with a victorious growl.

By this point, they were sitting with the Kurosakis—four sisters, two of which had spoken up for Yuya earlier. Yuzu Kurosaki, the pink haired one looked at the field. "That's a rather scary dragon." The green haired one gave a slight shake of her head that Yuri caught, not really disapproving but the protective Yuto look as she glared down at the dragon. He found it interesting.

"Thank you," he said with a smirk. "Now let's focus on the duel, shall we? I want to see Yuya and Starving Venom destroy that mascot."

Yugo cupped his hands around his mouth. "Crush him, Yuya!"

* * *

Chronos looked at the dragon, shivering a little. "That dragon… it's creepy. This is the one that beat Masumi-san, no?"

"Yes." He said. He petted Starving Venom on the back. "Starving Venom will gain the attack points of your monster—so he'll gain 1000 attack and go up to 3800 attack points. Hungry Fang! I will Pendulum Summon again using my Scales! Come on out from my hand, Performapal Partnaga!" _(5*/500/2100/EARTH/Reptile/Pendulum/Effect)_ A yellow snake with a goofy smile appeared. "Partnaga's effect! I'll give a monster on my field 300 attack for each "Performapal" on my field! I'll give Starving Venom that attack—300 times two is 600, so that'll bring him up to 4400 attack. However, Partnaga's effect stops all Level 5 or lower monsters from attacking."

Chronos laughed mockingly. "Then you can't deal me damage. Misplay, boy? You should have brought Partnaga out later. Now that dragon of yours is completely useless and can't get to me."

 _Don't get angry don't get angry don't get angry—_

He bit his tongue. "Don't insult my brother's dragon." He said, before immediately regretting it. "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon's second effect." He snapped his fingers. "Everyone, now this dragon shall show you all a gorgeous show! Once per turn, Starving Venom Fusion Dragon can copy the effect of a Level 5 or higher monster on the field. It will copy Ancient Gear Howitzer's effect. Predator's Mimicry! Once per turn, it can deal you 1000 damage! Hunting Howl!"

He nodded to Starving Venom with a smile, conveying the simple message—don't hurt him. The dragon flew into the air, letting out a storm of scarlet and violet petals as well as metal shrapnel, reflecting light and falling all around them, transforming the ground into a field of petals.

"So pretty…"

"It looks nice."

"He said he wanted to give us a gorgeous show. Do you think he's trying to be an Entertainment Duelist?"

He grinned. Chronos pushed himself out of the petal pile.

 **Chronos di Medici: 4000 - 1000 = 3000LP**

"Thanks for your help, Starving Venom." He said, petting the dragon's back again. "Battle Phase! Take it out, Starving Venom! Toxic Spore!"

Starving Venom let out a bloodthirsty screech, before it let out a hail of crimson leaves and flowers, all of which surrounded the hunting dog until all of a sudden it vanished beneath the leaves.

"Ancient Gear Howitzer's Effect! When destroyed, I can special summon a "Ancient Gear" monster from my deck ignoring summoning conditions! It looks like you need a better lesson, Sakaki—"

"Yuya."

"..."

"Please stop calling me Sakaki. I'm Yuya." He said.

He didn't carry the same pained hatred that his brothers held for their father, but he did feel… sad, at least. His father… Yusho Sakaki… Yuya had lived his life from that one fateful day until now carrying that feeling of inferiority, of loss and a feeling that he hadn't been good enough. It was silly, but he suspected he would always feel that way.

The teacher coughed. "I will special summon Ancient Gear Golem! _(8*/3000/3000/EARTH/ Machine/Effect)_ Normally, this card cannot be special summoned, but since Howitzer allows me to ignore summoning conditions, that is no issue."

Yuya nodded. "Alright. I will end my turn there."

"Draw! I will activate the spell card Ancient Gear Fusion! With this card, I can use materials from my hand or field to Fusion Summon! Since I am using an "Ancient Gear Golem" I control as material, I can also use materials from the deck! I will fuse Ancient Gear Golem and two Ancient Gear Wyverns _(4*/1700/1200/EARTH/Machine/Effect)_ from my deck! Come on out, ultimate machine golem! Fusion Summon—Level 10! Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!" _(10*/4400/3400/ EARTH/Machine/Fusion/Effect)_

4400 attack… this could be trouble. And Starving Venom's attack gain from its own effect had already worn off, leaving it with just 3400 attack points… but he had an ace up his sleeve, at least.

"I will play the spell card Twin Blast Burst—this turn, a monster on my field can attack twice, but the damage it deals will be halved! I will obviously give this attack to my Golem. Now, attack S—Yuya's Performapal Partnaga! And Golem deals piercing damage! Ancient Collapse!"

The golem shot out a blast of old and rust shrapnel at his monster, but Starving Venom quickly blocked the stray shards from hitting Yuya. Meanwhile, Partnaga took most of the hit and was destroyed.

 **Yuya Sakaki: 3000 - 2300/2 = 1950 LP**

"Now—destroy that eyesore of a dragon! Ancient Collapse!"

Starving Venom was blown to shreds. Yuya winced at the shockwave.

 **Yuya Sakaki: 1950 - 1000/2 = 1450LP**

"Everyone!" He announced. "Starving Venom will now give everyone its farewell with a fabulous display!" The petals all around him rose into the air, floating in a strangely mesmerizing manner. "When Starving Venom Fusion Dragon leaves the field, it destroys all special summoned monsters on the field! Do it, Starving Venom! Vengeful Storm!"

Normally when Yuri's dragon had to use this last maneuver, it would create a rather unsettling scene of gore instead of the beautiful shows it helped Yuya with. Starving Venom was just like Yuri—dangerous, adaptable, vengeful… and yet kind. The golem melted into shining particles as it vanished.

"Seriously? Well, my Golem has an effect too! It will special summon a "Ancient Gear Golem" from my graveyard to the field! So return, Ancient Gear Golem—and show Yuya Sakaki the grave error he made! Destroy Performapal Skeeter Skimmer and put an end to this duel!"

Yuya gave what he hoped was a cheeky smile. "Sorry, but I won't let it end so easily! When targeted for an attack, I can change Skeeter Skimmer to defence position and negate your attack!"

Chronos huffed. "I end my turn. Now what will you do?"

What he would do, huh?

… he had decided that a long time ago. He would move forward. With Yuto, with Yugo, with Yuri. He would leave all the tears behind him. So he couldn't lose here. Not when the other three had tried so hard, always tried so hard for him… he looked at his deck.

It would respond. He knew it would.

"Draw!" He grinned at the card. "Pendulum Summon! Return from the Extra Deck, dragon of shining eyes! Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" His ace appeared with its loud roar, letting him know its will. It would stand by him, as always. "I will activate the spell card Pendulum Destruction! I can destroy up to two cards in my Pendulum Scales, and one of your monsters loses 1000 attack for each! I will destroy both and lower your Golem's attack by 2000!"

Chronos paled, glancing at his Golem as it was weakened by the transparent spirits of the two destroyed Pendulum monsters. "But that's only 1500 damage. I can beat you next turn—"

"Chronos-sensei." Yuya interrupted. "When Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon battles a monster, the battle damage is doubled."

Chronos let out a comical gasp. "What?"

This was all thanks to Starving Venom, who protected him until this vital moment. Just like how his brothers had been defending him until he had the chance to stand up for himself, to show everyone his duel…

"Ladies and gentlemen!" He said loudly, hearing his voice echo. "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon is about to make his final attack on Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!" He brought his voice back to its normal but still audible volume. "Let's make this last attack a nice one, Odd Eyes. Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon will attack now! Spiral Strike Burst! And the damage will be doubled! Reaction Force!"

Odd Eyes let out a bright ruby beam of light that hit Gear Golem, who shattered into pieces—pieces that were caught in the wind brought about by the attack just like all the petals around it, creating one final, breathtaking flurry of petals as the duel was concluded.

 **Chronos di Medici: 3000 - 1500x2 = 0LP**

There was a short, awkward silence and Yuya briefly wondered if he had done something wrong. Then, people began applauding, with hesitant looks at each other to make sure that they weren't the only ones. The applause grew louder, and Yuya gave a sigh of relief. He had succeeded.

He glanced briefly at his brothers. Yuri's approving, cocky smirk. Yugo's excitement as he loudly cheered Yuya's name. Yuto's kind smile as he gave a thumbs up.

He smiled. "Thank you." He said, and the crowd's applause grew, although he wasn't addressing it to them. Anyway, since he had to end the performance… he walked over to Chronos. "Chronos-sensei? Are you alright?"

* * *

Chronos glanced up at the red-and-green haired boy.

From the tales, he had expected this boy to be a little bundle of hatred and rage. He had expected Yuya Sakaki to be a coward just like his father, and just as infruriatingly proud as that man.

But no.

This boy… and the other three, now that he thought about it… they were all damaged. Damaged by the fact that their father had run away and left them. Damaged by their own sorrow. They had been hurt by Yusho Sakaki's actions more than anyone else, and he had been far too proud to see that.

He stood up. "Of course. Sa—Yuya," he was still getting used to that, "you should get to the stands." The Solid Vision deactivated, the petals fading away.

The boy looked him over with those earnest scarlet eyes, before nodding. He ran up to the stands, to where his brothers were sitting. Were those the Kurosakis sitting with them? He sighed. Well, time to go and rest—

He felt a burning glare land on his back. He spun around to see Asuka Tenjoin looking at him with a look of extreme anger. "I think we should talk, Chronos." She said with a too-sweet smile. He heard some students gossiping in the stands and laughing at him and groaned internally as the woman gestured for him to follow her to the side of the testing area.

What happened next was on display for all of Duel Academia to see. That is, to see what happened when you crossed Asuka Tenjoin and those she was protective of—now including a group of boys with various fruit coloured hair. It was spoken of by students in hushed voices and in awe for the rest of the day, as Chronos was taken on a stretcher to the medical bay and the students were calmly informed by the female teacher that the boat to Academia would be delayed for a while.

But it also sent another clear message to the other teachers—that bullying and unfairness towards any of the students would not be tolerated by the newest addition to their ranks. That it would not be tolerated by Asuka Tenjoin, recent winner of the Pro Circuit and youngest teacher of Duel Academia.

Judging from the shivering, it was definitely received.

* * *

Yuya wondered why his brothers were staring towards the duel field in awe. He had tried to turn around, but Yuto and Yuri had simultaneously stopped him from doing so, each holding onto him with a steady arm. Yugo's eyes were practically sparkling with admiration, and Yuri's smirk had been growing bigger and bigger for so long that it was way too creepy to look at.

And then all of a sudden, there was a sickening crack and his brothers all flinched, their awe-filled expressions vanishing. Yugo especially looked sick.

The purple haired girl leaned forward. "I didn't know a— mmphmhh." Her voice was muffled as her green haired sister placed her hand over her mouth.

"Serena!" She chided, and the other two hid snickers. Then, the voice of the nice teacher from the waiting area came over the loudspeakers, informing them that there would be a delay.

Yuya grinned. "Alright! Let's go find people!" He paused to consider that statement, before he turned to the girls. "Hi. I'm Yuya."

The laughter he got at that made him smile—both in amusement and in confusion.

Oh well. Girls were weird.

 **A/N:** **And here it is! Ok, so this one came out really close to the last one because I had free time and I already sort of plotted the next few chapters anyway, so yeah! Here, another chapter! I hope you enjoy :) (Could we consider this a double release? :))**

 _Chapter Preview: Chapter 4—Melodious Symphony and Moonlight Waltz_

 _On the boat, curious about why Serena and Yuzu Kurosaki would stand up for Yuya, Yuri challenges them to a tag duel to try and understand them through the duel._

 **So yeah! Next chapter we get to see Serena and Yuzu duel! Yay :p Thanks so much for reading, and if you followed or favorited this, thanks a lot! I'm so glad you enjoyed. Anyway, see you next time!**

 **-Blaise**

 **Edit: (8/7/19) Added a bit more description, centralised life points and added a few spaces to break up the card stats in order to make the paragraphs look better.**


	4. Chapter 4: Melodious Moonlight Waltz

The sea on the way to Academia was… peaceful, somehow. Yuya enjoyed the sea, despite how little they had gone to the beach when he was younger. There was something about the sea breeze… almost sad, almost haunting in the way one could lose themselves in it…

"I thought I would find you here."

He turned to see Yuto. The latter's cape was floating in the wind, and he had a rather sad smile on his face. He shifted to the right, allowing his brother to share the railing with him. They stood there in silence for a while, simply enjoying the breeze. It had been the early afternoon, about three when the exam had finished and results been tallied. Now, after a while on the boat, it was that precious time—not quite the heat of the afternoon or the cold of the night. Just refreshing wind and orange skies.

"How are you feeling?"

"... a little nervous. Guess that's why I came out here instead of socialising down there." He turned to his brother. "You should get to know people, you know."

"Says the one up here." Yuto said teasingly. "You know how many people came to talk to us because they wanted to talk to you? I swear Yuri and Yugo were about to murder some people by the time I left. They'll be joining us up here in a while, by the way."

"You told them?"

"Nah. Despite our… differences, we all know you well enough."

"... do you have a tracker on me?"

"No!" Yuto looked almost offended. "Actually, maybe Yuri does, but I don't. Anyway… enough joking. How are you really feeling?" He wanted to evade, but the look in Yuto's eyes let him know that the conversation had become serious, and that Yuto was genuinely concerned about him. He couldn't really lie when the other was so concerned about him, could he?

"Today… today is kind of confusing. I mean, it's the day he left. It's his birthday, isn't it?"

Yuto's fists clenched around the railing. "Yeah. He left us on this day. April the first. As if it was some kind of cruel April Fools' joke. I knew you would need some time to yourself, but I still wanted to talk to you. Because well…" The words were left unspoken in his mouth. Because they were all suffering from the memories, and Yuto had wanted to confide in him and have him do the same.

"I understand." He closed his eyes. "I was thinking about him, I guess. Why he left us. It's not like he ran off to be a hero or anything, he just ran!" He tried to bring his voice down to its normal volume, realising it had gotten far too loud for comfort. "Why that day? Why would he choose that day? That time? Why—"

Yuto's arms wrapped around him in an embrace. In encouragement.

He wanted to say it. He really, really wanted to say it.

"Why did he leave us? Were we not good enough?"

Yuto's quiet whisper answered him. "I don't know. I really, really don't know. I'm sorry, Yuya. I'm so sorry."

Why sorry? Yuto shouldn't have been the one to be sorry… he remembered bright skies and Maiami City. He hugged Yuto closer.

" _I will hold you after your first break-up. Your first hangover. Your first loss. When you have a particularly bad argument with your girlfriend. Because I am your father, and my father held me through all of those things. I will not leave you."_

But he wasn't here, not now.

* * *

"Hello." Yuri's voice said in that knowing tone. "We have a duel, Yuya."

He felt Yuto move away, and they both let go of each other as Yuto gently wiped his tears away—just as the Kurosaki sisters made their way up to the top of the ship.

Yuzu, Serena, Rin, Ruri.

Yuzu huffed. "Your madman of a brother just dragged us out here for a duel all of a sudden!"

Yugo, on the other hand, looked completely thrilled. "The grinning bastard actually had a good idea! He wanted us to know each other better, since we were going to be friends." Yuya hid his surprise—Yuri wanted to know people better? Could pigs fly? "So he suggested we have two tag duels before we get to the island—me and Yuto against Rin and Ruri, and Yuya and Yuri against Yuzu and Serena!"

He stood up, intending to walk over for the duel; only for Yuto to grab his arm. "You alright?" He whispered.

"I'm fine." He said, giving the other a smile. Yuto moved backwards reluctantly, and Yuya faced his opponents with a bright grin. "Let's have ours be the first duel then! Let's do this!"

Yuzu looked a little less irritated now, and she gave him an excited grin. "A tag duel, huh? No Master Duel, and 4000 life points since we need to do this fast?"

"If that makes you happy." He winked at her. "Let's do this, and have fun while we're duelling! Come on, Yuri!" He grabbed the other boy, yanking him to his side. "3, 2, 1…"

"Duel!"

 **Yuya Sakaki/Yuri Sakaki: 4000LP**

 **Yuzu Kurosaki/Serena Kurosaki: 4000LP**

Yuya smiled. "I'll begin! Ladies and gentlemen!" He took a card from his hand and revealed it. "I activate the spell card, Pendulum Call! I may discard one card and add two "Magician" cards from my deck to my hand! I will discard Performapal Silver Claw _(4*/S5/1800/700/DARK/Beast/ Pendulum/Effect)_ to add Wisdom-Eye Magician _(4*/S5/ 1500/1500/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Pendulum/ Effect)_ and Timegazer Magician _(3*/S8/1200/600/DARK/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect)_ to my hand."

"Hold on." Yuzu gave him a cheeky smile. "From what I can tell, your strategy focuses a lot on searching, doesn't it? Unfortunately, I can't let you carry on with that, you know. When a card is added to your hand, I can discard Droll and Lock Bird _(1*/0/0/WIND/Spellcaster/Effect)_ from my hand to stop you from adding any more cards to your hand this turn!"

Oh. He glanced at the Wisdom-Eye Magician in his hand. Oh well. "Alright. I set the Scale 1 Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon _(5*/S1/1200/2400/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_ and the Scale 8 Timegazer Magician in the Pendulum Scales! Sway, pendulum that casts the arc of light! With the set Pendulum Scales, I can Pendulum Summon monsters from Level 2 to 7! I will Pendulum Summon! Come, my monster! Oafdragon Magician!" _(6*/S2/2100/1400/WIND/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect)_

His monster appeared, but a bit less solid than before—the Solid Vision was probably weaker without that gigantic projector, although their duel disks still had the basic Solid Vision. He gave his monster a wave, which was returned.

He smiled as well, giving her the wave of a hand. "Over to you, Kurosaki-san."

"Please call me Yuzu." She said with a wink. "Draw! I'll play the spell card Polymerisation! I will fuse the Elegy the Melodious Diva _(5*/2000/1200/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)_ and the Mozarta the Melodious Maestra _(8*/2600/2000/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)_ in my hand." A fusion vortex appeared behind her. She clasped her hands together with a confident grin. "Angel's song! Supreme genius! With the guidance of the baton, gather your power! Fusion Summon! Now come here to the stage! Sing the song of victory! Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir!" _(6*/1000/2000/LIGHT/ Fairy/Fusion/Effect)_

Fusion, huh? He exchanged looks with Yuri. He had assumed that there would be less Fusion users than the other Summoning Methods, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"I'll have Bloom Diva attack your Oafdragon Magician!"

What?

Oafdragon Magician easily reflected the other monster's attack with its staff. Yuzu shrugged. "Bloom Diva cannot be destroyed by battle, and I take no damage from battles involving it. Now, at the end of the battle, her effect activates! If she battled a Special Summoned monster, I can deal you damage equal to the difference between their attack. So that's… 1100. Go, Bloom Diva! Reflect Shout!"

The monster waved its arm, shooting out a shockwave that knocked him off his feet, landing a little behind his original position. Yuri's eyes were narrowed as he stared at the monster.

 **Yuya Sakaki/Yuri Sakaki: 4000 - 1100 = 2900LP**

Yuri pulled him up to his feet as Yuzu gave an apologetic smile. "The monster that Bloom Diva battled is then destroyed." Oafdragon Magician vanished. "I set one card and end. Are you alright?"

"He is." Yuri took a step forward. "You'll be dealing with me now. Draw! With the set Pendulum Scales, I can Pendulum Summon monsters from Level 2 to 7. Swing, pendulum! Draw an arc of light across the aether!" He swiped his hand through the air. "Pendulum Summon! Return from the Extra Deck, Oafdragon Magician! Then, from my hand, Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio _(4*/1200/800/DARK/Plant/Effect)_ and Predaplant Spinodionaea!" _(4*/1800/0/DARK/Plant/Effect)_

Yuya sighed. Honestly, his brother was far too overprotective. Not that he minded it that much though.

"When Ophrys Scorpio is summoned, once per turn I can discard one monster from my hand to special summon a "Predaplant" from my deck. I will discard Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra _(5*/800/2300/DARK/Plant/Effect)_ to special summon Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra _(3*/1000/1500/DARK/Plant/Effect)_ from my deck. Darlingtonia Cobra will add Polymerisation to my hand. When Special Summoned, Spinodionaea will place a Predator Counter on a monster on your field—Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir." Yuri paused to take a breath. "Did you catch all that? I'm certainly not repeating it. Now, I think it's time we rid ourselves of that pesky diva. This card can be special summoned from the hand or the graveyard once per turn by tributing a monster on either side of the field with a Predator Counter. I will tribute Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir to resurrect my Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra."

Bloom Diva vanished from the field as Yuzu looked at where it had been in disbelief. "You got rid of Bloom Diva so easily…"

"Now, I'll play the spell card Polymerisation! I will fuse Oafdragon Magician and Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra! The summoning conditions are a Pendulum Monster and a Plant-type monster! Fight all your enemies with your vicious poison! Unleash your hatred and hunger onto our foes—crush the world! Fusion Summon! Level 7! Starving Venemy Dragon!" _(7*/S1/2500/2000/DARK/Dragon/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect)_

Starving Venemy was an almost skeletal dragon, with bones forming around its chest and a pair of long scarlet wings reaching out behind it. Despite the name, it looked very little like Starving Venom, and much more like some kind of… demon? Demon dragon. Yuya still liked it a lot though, and he watched as the dragon let out its loud roar-laugh. (It would be a bit hard for him to be afraid of it, after seeing it play catch with Yuri; the latter denying it the moment he spotted Yuya. He had thought it was cute, personally, but seeing Yuri's embarrassment, he had never brought it up again.)

Serena Kurosaki frowned. "That's not the dragon you used at the exam."

"Starving Venom is currently taking a nap, so I'm afraid you'll have to make do with my second dragon." He shrugged. "Only have these two though. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will have Starving Venemy Dragon attack you directly. Do it, Starving Venemy! Enmity Spore!"

Yuzu opened her set card. "Trap card, Draining Shield! I negate the attack and gain life equal to the attacking monster's attack!"

 **Yuzu Kurosaki/Serena Kurosaki: 4000 + 2500 = 6500LP**

"Not bad." Yuri acknowledged. "But that leaves you open. Attack directly, Ophrys Scorpio! Spinodionaea!"

 **Yuzu Kurosaki/Serena Kurosaki: 6500 - 1200 - 1800 = 3500LP**

"Since Hydra is in defence position, it can't attack you. So unfortunately, I'll have to mirror you by setting a card and ending my turn."

"Not too shabby yourself either." Serena complimented, stepping forward. "But now it's my turn to face you! Draw!" She grinned at the card. "I'll activate the effect of Lunalight Black Sheep _(2*/100/600/DARK/Beast-Warrior/Effect)_ in my hand. I discard it to add Fusion Substitute, which is treated as Polymerisation, to my hand. Now, I'll Normal Summon Lunalight White Rabbit _(2*/800/800/DARK/Beast-Warrior/Effect)_ and activate its effect. I special summon a "Lunalight" from the graveyard in defence position! Come back, Lunalight Black Sheep! Now I'll activate the spell card Fusion Substitute! Using monsters I control as materials, I can Fusion Summon! I'll fuse Lunalight Black Sheep and Lunalight White Rabbit!" She gave a confident smirk. "The sheep lurking in the black night! The lively white rabbit illuminated by moonlight! Swarm in a vortex of the moon's gravity and revive with a new power! Fusion Summon! Come forth! Lunalight Cat Dancer!" _(7*/2400/2000/DARK/Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect)_

* * *

A graceful dancer with ribbons swirling around her appeared. Despite the air of gracefulness and seemingly lackadaisical attitude of the monster, he could feel something strange behind that. Power… and something feral.

Despite his seeming lack of care towards the duel, he cared a lot. Not exactly about making friends, but about getting to know these two. Know why they would stand up for Yuya. And if a duel reflected one's true character, then…

"I'll set the Scale 5 Lunalight Tiger _(3*/S5/1200/800/LIGHT/Beast-Warrior/Pendulum/Effect)_ in the Pendulum Scale and activate its Pendulum Effect. I special summon a "Lunalight" from the graveyard with its effects negated, also it cannot attack and it is destroyed at the end of my turn. Return, Lunalight White Rabbit. Now, I will activate the effect of Lunalight Cat Dancer—"

"Stop right there." Yuri said, his smirk growing. Seriously? "I will activate the effect of Starving Venemy Dragon. Once per turn, I negate a monster's effect and copy it. Not only that, but your monster's attack is reduced by 500. Both of these effects only last until the end of the turn. Finally, you take 500 damage! Do it, Starving Venemy! Powerless Hunger!"

Vines shot out from the ground, forcing Cat Dancer to its knees before Serena winced at the shockwave that was sent towards them. Yuri couldn't stop himself from feeling just a little bit of triumph there—after all, Yuya had been hit with a shockwave too, so it was only fair that he, as Yuya's older brother, returned the pain—or so to speak.

 **Yuzu Kurosaki/Serena Kurosaki: 3500 - 500 = 3000LP**

Serena managed a larger smile. "Good thing it's once per turn. You're not going to be able to stop us! I will complete my Scale with the Scale 1 Lunalight Wolf _(6*/S1/ 2000/1800/DARK/Beast-Warrior/Pendulum/Effect)_ and I will activate its Pendulum Effect. I may banish materials from my field or graveyard to Fusion Summon once per turn. I will banish Lunalight Black Sheep and Lunalight White Rabbit from my graveyard and field respectively. Swirl in the darkness and become a new power! Fusion Summon! The quiet one who watches over the dancers in the moonlight! Lunalight Cat Songstress!" _(7*/S1/2000/1500/DARK/Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect)_

Fascinating. So this Fusion user was not as much of a one-trick pony as the previous one… Yuri recalled duelling against Masumi Kotsu. How honestly, once he destroyed her ace, she had no way to defeat him. Maybe this would be more interesting.

"When Cat Songstress is summoned, if I control another "Lunalight" Fusion monster, it gains a special effect that I will not tell you yet. I will activate the spell card Luna Light Fragrance. I can special summon a banished "Lunalight" monster to my field. Return, Lunalight White Rabbit. Then, I will activate the second effect of Lunalight Cat Songstress!"

"Really getting me excited to see the first effect here." Yuri said dryly, hearing Yuto suppress a chuckle—and noting how he blushed slightly when the black haired Kurosaki girl gave a small laugh. Hmm…

"I tribute a "Lunalight" monster I control to give a "Lunalight" Fusion Monster I control the ability to attack all monsters twice per turn, and have those monsters not be destroyed by the battle! I'll give that effect to Cat Dancer," she gave Yuri a glare, "considering that you blocked me from activating it earlier."

"My apologies." He said, giving her a mocking smirk. Of course he had known Cat Dancer's effect, they had seen it while they were at the entrance exams. Devastating, and powerful.

"Grr…! I will activate Lunalight Cat Songstress's first effect." She smirked. "The one you wanted to see, no? I can halve its attack and this turn, it can attack you directly. _(Lunalight Cat Songstress: 2000/2 = 1000ATK)_ Battle Phase! Lunalight Cat Songstress will attack you directly! Melody in the Moonlight!" The monster let out a low purr, before vanishing and striking him in the back. Before he could react, it had teleported back to Serena's side.

 **Yuya Sakaki/Yuri Sakaki: 2900 - 1000 = 1900LP**

"Now go, Cat Dancer! Crush Ophrys Scorpio twice! Full Moon Cresta!"

The dancer quickly wrecked his plant monster. Yuri frowned. That was annoying.

 **Yuya Sakaki/Yuri Sakaki: 1900 - 700x2 = 500LP**

"Now destroy Spinodionaea!"

 **Yuya Sakaki/Yuri Sakaki: 500 - 100x2 = 300LP**

"I end my turn." She smirked. "Well? How was that?"

So proud. Geez… "Passable." He said roughly. "Over to you, Yuya."

Yuya stepped forward. "Draw! With the set Pendulum Scales, I will Pendulum Summon! Return to entertain everyone, Oafdragon Magician! And let's welcome our new performer to the stage! The one, the only Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" _(7*/2500/2000/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_ The two monsters appeared on the field. Yuzu gave him an encouraging round of applause and he nodded in thanks. "I will activate Starving Venemy Dragon's effect! I will negate Lunalight Cat Songstress's effects, steal them, lower its attack by 500 and deal you 500 damage! Do it, Starving Venemy! Powerless Hunger!"

Aww, he was saying the exact same thing that Yuri himself had said. So nice.

 **Yuzu Kurosaki/Serena Kurosaki: 3000 - 500 = 2500LP**

"Now, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon will attack Lunalight Cat Songstress! And Odd Eyes deals double the damage when battling a monster!"

"What?" Serena's eyes widened. "Damn, that's what defeated Chronos…"

"Do it, Odd Eyes! Spiral Flame Strike! Reaction Force!"

 **Yuzu Kurosaki/Serena Kurosaki: 2500 - 1000x2 = 500LP**

"Starving Venemy will destroy Cat Dancer! Enmity Spore!"

 **Yuzu Kurosaki/Serena Kurosaki: 500 - 100 = 400LP**

"And Oafdragon Magician will finish it!"

The monster walked up to the girls, before giving them a simple bow, and slicing its sword across the air, knocking them back with a simple gust of wind.

 **Yuzu Kurosaki/Serena Kurosaki: 400 - 2100 = 0LP**

Yuya walked up to Yuzu, helping her up. "Thank you for helping with the performance."

Yuzu blushed a little. "No problem."

Oh, was there love in the air after all? Yuri snickered. That made a total of two brothers to tease... and if banana head ended up crushing on someone too... yes, this was very good.

"Hey." Serena walked up to him. "That was a good Duel. I hope…" she seemed to struggle on the words. "I hope we can duel again."

"..." He began laughing. "That hurt to say, didn't it? That being said, my brothers are trying to get me to be nicer to other people, and I think it's the same for you." He held out his hand. "Friends?"

"Friends. My sisters want me to be a little more approachable, too." She shook his hand. "Thanks for the duel."

"Now that all that's settled…" Yuto offered a hand to Ruri. "Shall we?"

The second duel was about to begin.

 **A/N:** **So yeah, that's chapter 4! I hope the duel was to your liking. Thanks so much for reading! I really appreciate it, and I hope you enjoyed reading too. Not sure when the next chapter will come out, but I'll make time. Promise :) Anyway, this chapter debuted Yuzu and Serena, as well as Starving Venemy Dragon and Lunalight Cat Songstress. I really liked how the Manga gave the male counterparts Pendulum versions of their aces, and therefore, I wanted to give the girls Pendulums too! So Cat Songstress is a Fusion-Pendulum, and SPOILER there will be a Pendulum version of every counterpart's aces minus Yuya for obvious reasons.**

 **Lunalight Cat Songstress** _(7*/2000/1500/DARK/Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect)_

 _(2 "Lunalight" monsters)_

 _Pendulum Effect: Once per turn, you may reduce the damage from a battle to zero._

When this card is Special Summoned, if you control one or more other "Lunalight' Fusion Monsters, this card gains the following effect:

 _You may halve this monster's attack. If you do so, this turn, it may attack your opponent directly._

You may tribute a "Lunalight" monster you control, then target a "Lunalight" Fusion Monster you control: This turn, it may attack all your opponent's monsters twice, and on the first attack, the monsters are not destroyed.

You may only activate each effect of Lunalight Cat Songstress once per turn.

 **So yeah! Thanks for reading! The chapter preview is right below this :p**

 _Chapter 5: Winter Winds and Night Song_

 _Yuto and Yugo duel Ruri and Rin. Yuto is distracted, worried about Yuya's reaction to the anniversary of their father's birthday, until something happens that snaps him out of it..._

 **Bye!**

 **-Blaise**

 **Edit: (8/7/19) Added some spaces, centralised life points. Quite the minor edit :3**


	5. Chapter 5: Winter Winds and Night Song

" _Not asleep yet, Yuto?"_

" _Yugo is snoring too loudly, and I couldn't stop thinking about the story you were telling us… could you finish the story for me?"_

" _Of course. Just let me get the book."_

" _..."_

" _Alright, we stopped when the dragon tamer returned to his village, didn't we?"_

" _Yeah!"_

" _Alright. The dragon tamer stepped into his village, looking around. At the lush green fields, the wooden houses, the singing birds that flew through the sky. This was what he had been fighting to protect. This was what he had always wanted to protect, and he had succeeded. And he would keep growing stronger, so that the village would never be at risk again. He would serve the prince, and he would be the savior of everyone who knew him._

 _Such great ambition. But alas, that was not to be. The tamer did indeed come home year after year… until one year, he came home to burning ruins and corpses laid everywhere. The kingdom they were warring with had heard about the dragon tamer of lightning and targeted his village with an attack, hoping to destroy him._

 _However, they only made their own destruction._

 _The dragon tamer knelt in the ashes. He let out a piercing scream to the sky. And when he stood up, the gentle hearted man was gone. In his place was a monster, who had pledged himself to revenge._

 _The sunrise never came again for him. And he was left, trapped in the shadows of his own mind."_

" _What happened next then?"_

" _... nothing."_

Yuto had always liked birds. He had always been the earliest waker out of all of his brothers, and every day he had sneaked down to the window on the first floor. Yoko would give him that kind smile and there would already be a bag of birdseed on the table, ready for him to head to the birdhouse he had placed outside—handcrafted, each piece of wood carefully cut and nailed together. It had been a simpler time, when he could lose himself in bird chirps and fond smiles, and come home to a warm breakfast. Back when not everything was alright, but he could lie to himself enough to believe that it could be right. That nothing was wrong.

And then the incident had happened, and the angry mobs had come to Yoko's house demanding that her son be put down. She had put up a brave face in front of them, but he and Yuri had known that they couldn't go on like this. That Maiami would eventually force them away.

This was the neighbourhood Yoko had grown up in, the park a few minutes away was where she and that man had gotten married. She loved that place. And they hadn't wanted her to give it all up for Yuya.

Yuri, Yuri. Yuri had always been the most perplexing of all his siblings, and yet perhaps the one that he could understand the best. They both wanted to protect Yuya. They both understood that their desire to protect Yuya could be extremely selfish sometimes. Somehow, one exchanged look had turned into many whispered plans over the table, or sneaking into each other's bedrooms at night to discuss what they were going to do. It was a week after the first threat of violence that Yuri, chewing on a bagel, had come up with an idea.

Running.

Yugo had been hard to convince, but he didn't need to be. As manipulative as it had been, they had known that as long as Yuya agreed, Yugo would come with them. So they had talked to Yuya, asking him to run with them. And Yuya, hating that he had caused his mother trouble, agreed.

Yuto wondered if Yoko had noticed anything. Probably. He and Yuri had decided to get part-time jobs to get money for going to Domino. Yuya and Yugo had begun to pack stuff, deciding what could be brought to Domino with them and what they could get away with selling off. The cards were kept in the spare compartments in their duel disks, a few set of clothes because according to Yuri's GPS research there were a few manual laundry places in the new city and the apartment that the two older brothers had their eyes on came already furnished anyway.

He wondered if his brothers had ever considered how they had been able to afford four tickets, an apartment and food for the first week before he had gotten his own part-time job. He knew Yuri had gone to some extremely illegal means for the money. And yet…

On 26th December, one day after their fourteenth birthdays, the Sakaki brothers had snuck out of the house and caught the first train to Maiami.

They hadn't seen their mother for… a whole year and a half by now. Yoko…

But Yuto Sakaki knew. He knew he had to be strong, and he knew he had to protect all his younger brothers. He knew he wasn't allowed to miss that which he had chosen to leave behind, and he had promised Yoko that he would be better. He was the Phantom Knight, and he would watch over everyone else. For the sake of his family.

For the sake of his family, he would be selfish and never stop fighting.

(A part of his mind scoffed. "Who's going to protect you then?" It asked mockingly, and Yuto shut it away. He wouldn't think about himself for now.)

* * *

He smiled at Ruri Kurosaki. "Shall we?"

She blushed. "Yup! Let's do this!"

Rin raised an eyebrow. "I do hope that you're not trying to flirt with my sister. My older brother will slaughter you if he ever sees you." The green haired girl gave him a cold and confident smirk. "Well, shall we? I'm assuming you're the best of the four of you, so I hope we'll be having a nice, fun game here."

"You're the oldest, too?" Yuto smiled politely. "I hope I'll be good enough for you two then." He nodded to Yugo and the two raised their duel disks to face the green haired and black haired girls.

"Let's do this!" Yugo said excitedly. "Watching them got me pumped—let's have fun, Rin, Ruri!"

Ruri gave a cheerful wink (Yuto wondered why he suddenly got annoyed at the sight of that and decided he was probably still wound up from his conversation with Yuya) and nodded. "We'll definitely win against you! Duel!"

 **Rin Kurosaki/Ruri Kurosaki: 4000LP**

 **Yugo Sakaki/Yuto Sakaki: 4000LP**

Rin smiled, and Yuto raised an eyebrow—she definitely seemed to be the most frigid out of all the Kurosaki sisters. "I'll start. Since I control no monsters, I can special summon Windwitch Ice Bell _(3*/1000/1000/WIND/Spellcaster/Effect)_ from my hand. Then, I can special summon a "Windwitch" from my deck. I special summon Windwitch Glass Bell _(4*/1500/1500/WIND/ Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect)_ from my deck. Also, when Ice Bell is summoned, you take 500 damage! Icy Wind!" The spellcaster laughed, raising its rod and shooting a blast of cold wind at Yugo.

 **Yugo Sakaki/Yuto Sakaki: 4000 - 500 = 3500LP**

"Whoo, chilly." Yugo chuckled. "Not bad!"

Rin gave a confident smirk. "When Glass Bell is summoned, I add a "Windwitch" from my deck to my hand. I'll add Windwitch Ice Bell to my hand. Now, I tune the Level 3 Ice Bell to the Level 4 Glass Bell! Midwinter wind. Make ice and snow my power and blow through! Synchro Summon! Appear! Level 7! Windwitch Winter Bell!" _(7*/2400/2000/ WIND/Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect)_

A sleek sapphire bodied hybrid of an avian and a bell appeared, looking graceful and letting out a low trill, the echo of a bell sounding behind her. The monster appeared right next to her, and Rin gave a wink.

"This is my ace."

"Explains why you're so cold." Yuto shot back immediately. Hmm… that almost sounded like something Yuri would say, not him. He heard said brother's slight laugh.

"So I am. Windwitch Winter Bell's effect. I target a "Windwitch" in the graveyard and deal you 200 damage times its level. I'll target Glass Bell and deal you 800 damage!" She pointed a finger forward. "Hypothermic Subzero!"

 **Yugo Sakaki/Yuto Sakaki: 3500 - 800 = 2700LP**

The wind that came this time was far colder, far more forceful, even though Yuto wasn't the one who it was mostly directed towards. Yugo shivered. "Whoa! You are way too cold, you know that?" He grinned. "You should chill out a bit."

Rin sighed in exasperation. "Puns are the lowest form of humor." She replied. "I set one card and end my turn."

"My turn!" Yugo drew a card. "I will activate the effect of Speedroid Terrortop _(3*/1200/600/WIND/Machine/Effect)_ in my hand—I special summon it since I control no monsters!" Rin cocked an eyebrow. "Then, Terrortop will add a "Speedroid" to my hand! I'll add Speedroid Taketomborg _(3*/600/1200/WIND/Machine/Effect)_ to my hand. When I control a WIND monster, I can Special Summon Taketomborg from my hand!"

 _Is he—no, he wouldn't! He knows the danger of it. But why do I feel so uneasy?_

"Two Level 3 monsters… are you gonna Xyz? I assumed your eggplant haired brother was the Xyz specialist." Rin said with a chiding look. "Stick to what you're good at."

Yugo puffed up at the insinuation. "Hey, I'll—"

" **Yugo. If you finish that sentence or do what you were going to do, I'll slit your throat in your sleep."**

The low hiss came from his mouth, barely audible—and yet his brothers all heard it anyway. Yoko had mentioned that she thought they had been speaking in a different language, but whatever this hiss thing was, the only people who understood or spoke it were his brothers. It was… weird. Yuya looked shocked at the violent words, while Yuri was giving him this… odd look. A mix of understanding and concern. It was weird on his face. And Yugo—

" **Understood."** He looked almost injured at the accusation. " **You know I love Yuya too. I wouldn't have done anything to hurt him."**

They were always more raw in this private language of their own—more angry, more aggressive; more desperate, more hurt. Yuto didn't know what to say—luckily, his brother turned back to the duel.

"Speedroid Taketomborg's effect. I can tribute it to special summon a "Speedroid" Tuner from the deck, however I may only special summon WIND attribute monsters for the rest of this turn. Come, Speedroid Den-Den Daiko Duke!" _(3*/1000/1000/WIND/Machine/Tuner/Effect)_ "I will tune the Level 3 Speedroid Den-Den Daiko Duke to the Level 3 Speedroid Taketomborg! Magical sword with the form of a cross. Use your power to destroy our enemies! Synchro Summon! Appear now—Level 6! Hi-Speedroid Kendama! _(6*/2200/1600/WIND/Machine/Synchro/Effect)_

"Kendama?" Ruri smiled. "That's the one that you used against Yaiba Todo, isn't it? Before you evolved it into a dragon…"

"Yep! Now, if that bell had been in attack position I couldn't have destroyed it… but its defence points are lower so it's not a problem! Battle Phase!"

"Windwitch Winter Bell's second effect. Once during either player's battle phase, I may target one "Windwitch" monster I control, and special summon a "Windwitch" from my hand with a lower level than it. Come, Windwitch Freeze Bell _(6*/2000/1000/WIND/Spellcaster/Effect)_ from my hand. On the turn that Freeze Bell is summoned, my WIND monsters cannot be destroyed by battle. I cannot special summon non-WIND monsters while this card is on the field. And when it's summoned, you take 500 damage for each "Windwitch" monster I control. Freezing Gale!"

The winds struck Yugo again, and he shivered painfully. Yuto gritted his teeth. Despite his knowledge that it was a friendly match, that there was nothing on the line… seeing Yugo hurt still irritated him.

 **Yugo Sakaki/Yuto Sakaki: 2700 - 500x2 = 1700LP**

"Well, I suppose you've outsmarted me… or not! Say hello to Speedroid Gum Prize! _(1*/0/800/WIND/Machine/Tuner/Effect)_ When I take damage during the battle phase, I can special summon this card and immediately tune it to other WIND monsters I control!" He raised his hand. "I tune my Level 1 Speedroid Gum Prize to my Level 6 Hi-Speedroid Kendama!" The signature Synchro rings appeared. "Spread those wondrous and beautiful wings, and strike down your enemies at the speed of light! Synchro Summon! Appear now—Level 7, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!" _(7*/2500/2000/WIND/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)_

His ace dragon flew out from the Synchro rings, landing above him with a roar. Yuto winced. What if people came up here?

"I can't destroy your monsters, so I'll just have to set two cards and end. Over to you, Ruri!"

Ruri giggled. "I hope I'll be able to entertain you!"

Yuto violently suppressed the thought of "she's so cute" that was blooming in him. He did not crush on anyone. He was Yuto Sakaki. He was not…

Was not…

So cute… no snap out of it.

"Draw! I'll Normal Summon Lyrical Luscinia Emerald Nuthatch. _(1*/0/0/WIND/Winged-Beast/Effect)_ When I summon it from the hand, I can add a "Lyrical Luscinia" to my hand, but for the rest of the turn I may only summon WIND monsters. I will add Lyrical Luscinia Sapphire Swallow _(1*/100/0/WIND/Winged-Beast/Effect)_ to my hand. Then, I'll activate Sapphire Swallow's effect. Since I control a Winged Beast, I can special summon it and another Level 1 Winged Beast from my hand. Come, Lyrical Luscinia Sapphire Swallow! Lyrical Luscinia Cobalt Sparrow! _(1*/0/100/WIND/Winged-Beast/Effect)_ When Cobalt Sparrow is special summoned, I can add a "Lyrical Luscinia" to my hand from my deck. Another Sapphire Swallow!"

"Very nice." He complimented. "I guessed it, but you are indeed the Xyz specialist, are you not?"

"Yep!" She winked cheerfully. "You should smile a bit more—you're too serious. I will activate the effect of Lyrical Luscinia Ruby Raven _(1*/0/0/WIND/Winged-Beast/Effect)_ in my hand. Since I control two or more "Lyrical Luscinia" monsters, I discard this card to draw two cards. Now—I overlay my three Level 1 monsters! Birds with beautiful wings! Gather on the battlefield and take brilliant flight! Xyz Summon! Dance in the sky! Rank 1! Lyrical Luscinia - Assembly Nightingale!" _(R1/0/0/WIND/Winged-Beast/Xyz/Effect)_

The monster that appeared was a hybrid of an avian and a girl, with long wings covered in bright brown, blue, pink and so many various shades of feathers. It was breathtakingly graceful, just like Bloom Diva, Cat Dancer and Winter Bell before it. And yet… there was something more to it? As though he had seen it before…

"It has no attack though." Yugo said with a laugh. "You can't beat my Clear Wing with that!"

"I don't have to. Sapphire Swallow's Effect. When used as material, I can attach a "Lyrical Luscinia" in my graveyard to Assembly Nightingale. I'll attach Ruby Raven. Assembly Nightingale gains 200 attack for each of its overlay units. Four. 800 attack. It can also attack once for each."

With all due respect to her though, he couldn't see how that mattered in the grand scheme of things.

"I will switch Rin's Winter Bell to attack position! Then, Windwitch Winter Bell's effect! I will deal you another 800 damage! Hypothermic Subzero!"

 **Yugo Sakaki/Yuto Sakaki: 1700 - 800 = 900LP**

"Battle Phase! Lyrical Luscinia Assembly Nightingale can attack you directly! Go, Nightingale! Avian Gale!"

Yugo jerked. "W-What? Uh… damn, to think that birdie was that strong… I will activate my trap card, Waboku! This turn, I don't take battle damage and my monsters cannot be destroyed by battle!"

Ruri pouted. "Oh well… I set a card and end. Over to you, Yuto-kun!"

"Just Yuto." He said, turning back to his cards. "Draw. I'll set a card face down. Then, once per turn, since I have no traps in my graveyard, I can activate the effect of my set The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine on the turn it was set. I'll special summon it as a monster. _(4*/0/300/DARK/Warrior/Effect)_ I will then Normal Summon The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm _(4*/1500/500/DARK/Warrior/Effect)_ from my hand. I will overlay my two Level 4 monsters!"

He felt a pressure at the back of his mind building, cold and determined. The feeling of direction, of knowing what to do.

 _All my rage collapses into this hand of mine—_

"Formed from pitch-black darkness, to fight those foolish enough to oppose it with its treacherous fangs! Now, descend! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!" _(R4/2500/2000/DARK/Dragon/Xyz/Effect)_ His partner landed next to him, letting out a howl. Clear Wing let out a cheerful chuckle.

"I like that one much better." Ruri remarked.

While Yugo began trying to convince Ruri that his dragon was much cooler than Yuto's own, Yuto suppressed the urge to laugh. "I will set four cards face down. Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon's effect will activate!" Lightning shot out from the dragon, binding Rin's ace monster. "I will detach two Overlay Units and halve your Winter Bell's attack, adding the amount lost to my dragon's attack! Treason Discharge!" _(Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon: 2500 + 1200 = 3700ATK) (Windwitch Winter Bell: 2400/2 = 1200ATK)_

The lightning grew more wild, more violent—before Winter Bell collapsed to the ground, it's strength sapped. Yugo gave him a questioning look; a look that was mirrored by Yuya. An unspoken question. Why was he being so confrontational?

Yuto had no idea either.

"Battle Phase! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon will attack Windwitch Winter Bell! Rebellious Lightning Disobey!" The lightning flew towards the monster, and Yuto has a split second where his thoughts ground to a halt— _don't hurt them!_ His dragon let out a huff and the lightning flew to the side, giving no indication that Dark Rebellion had been aiming it at the girls in the first place.

Ruri was giving his dragon a thoughtful look. "It feels different now from earlier, somehow… but why?"

 **Rin Kurosaki/Ruri Kurosaki: 4000 - 2500 = 1500LP**

"This will finish it! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon will attack your Lyrical Luscinia Assembly Nightingale! Helldive Whirlwind Slasher!"

"I'll activate the effect of Assembly Nightingale! I can detach an Overlay Unit and this turn, my "Lyrical Luscinia" monsters cannot be destroyed by battle, nor do I take damage! Feather Barrier!" Assembly Nightingale waved its wings, deflecting Clear Wing's attack.

"I'll end my turn." He couldn't end it here, huh?

"My turn! Draw!" Rin glanced at her hand. "Since I control two or more WIND monsters and no non-WIND monsters, I can special summon Windwitch Snow Bell _(1*/100/100/WIND/Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect)_ from my hand. I will now tune my Level 1 Windwitch Snow Bell to my Level 6 Windwitch Freeze Bell! Wind of the forsaken. Clear a way through the corpses of the ones you struck down! Synchro Summon! Level 7–Windwitch Niflheim Bell!" _(7*/S4/2400/1500/WIND/Spellcaster/Synchro/Pendulum/ Tuner/Effect)_

There is a sudden shift in the air, as though something has gone terribly wrong. And then a monster reminiscent of Winter Bell—in an eerie way, with its grey-silver colour scheme, a stark contrast to the vibrant blue of Winter Bell.

Something is terribly wrong. This monster gave him the shivers, and he didn't mean that as a joke. It felt wrong. It felt disturbing, just like Cat Songstress before it. Was he the only one who felt this way?

Rin didn't seem to notice. "When Windwitch Niflheim Bell is summoned, I may add two "Windwitch" monsters from my deck to my hand. I will add Windwitch Snow Bell and Windwitch Freeze Bell to my hand. Now, once per turn, I can deal my opponent 200 damage for each monster in my graveyard with "Windwitch" in its name. I have Winter Bell, Ice Bell, Snow Bell, Glass Bell and Freeze Bell. 1000 damage. You're finished. Cold Whirlwind!" The monochrome spellcaster sent a gust of wind towards them.

"I will chain the effects of the two set The Phantom Knights of Dichromatic Eyes I set last turn to your Niflheim Bell. When my opponent activates an effect, I can negate the effect, special summon this card as a monster _(1*/0/100/DARK/Warrior/Effect)_ and then if the activated effect was a monster effect, I can treat this card and other "Phantom Knights" monsters I control as monsters with the same level as the monster which activated its effect and Xyz Summon!"

"On my turn?" Rin gasped, her composure breaking for a few seconds.

"Fangs of rebellion gain new power and slash the pall of darkness! Awaken, dark raging dragon that presides over the battlefield!" His brothers' eyes all widened. They knew what he was calling out. He only owned one Rank 7 monster, after all. "Xyz Summon! Rank 7! Dark Anthelion Dragon!" _(R7/S10/3000/2500/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_

The monster almost looked like a purified version of Dark Rebellion, if there was such a thing. Silver blue accents decorated its sleek indigo body as it let out a friendly growl—and an admonishing scolding to Yuto. He was letting his personal issues cloud his duelling? What did it mean?

Rin sighed. "Well, it can't be helped that you brought out another one of those dragons. I meant to ask, but he—" she jerked her head to Yuri, "uses plant monsters. The idiot uses machines, and you use warriors." She avoided said idiot's indignant scowl. "Where do these dragons come into the mix?"

How, indeed. "The gods are fickle," he said quietly. "Who knows?"

"... I will then normal summon Windwitch Ice Bell. Its effect will deal you 500 damage when summoned."

 **Yugo Sakaki/Yuto Sakaki: 900 - 500 = 400LP**

"Battle Phase."

"I will now activate the effect of Dark Anthelion Dragon. I can detach one Overlay Unit, halve the attack of a monster on your field and Dark Anthelion gains that amount as attack while I gain it as life. The attacks go back to normal at the end of the turn. I will halve Windwitch Niflheim Bell's attack. Draining Lightning!" _(Dark Anthelion Dragon: 3000 + 1200 = 4200ATK) (Windwitch Niflheim Bell: 2400/2 = 1200ATK)_

The same lightning that had assaulted Winter Bell earlier shot towards its comrade, knocking it to the ground. At the same time, some of the charges flew towards Yuto, although he barely felt them. Kind of ticklish.

 **Yugo Sakaki/Yuto Sakaki: 400 + 2400/2 = 1600LP**

"Even if you weakened Niflheim, Assembly Nightingale has enough attack to finish you off. Attack directly, Assembly Nightingale! Avian Gale!"

"Trap card activate, The Phantom Knights of Wrong Magnetring! When an attack is declared by your monster, I negate it and special summon this card as a monster! _(2*/0/0/DARK/Warrior/Effect)_ Come, Wrong Magnetring!" His monster appeared on the field.

"Hmm… Avian Gale—Two!"

Yuto shielded himself with his arms at the unexpectedly strong whirlwind.

 **Yugo Sakaki/Yuto Sakaki: 1600 - 600 = 1000LP**

"Now, Avian Gale—Three!"

"You're really harsh." He remarked—only for Rin to scoff.

"You think I'll lose to someone who isn't even fully focusing on this duel? If this duel is supposed to show me what kind of person you are, Yuto Sakaki, you are failing the standards I set for anyone who wants to be friends with my sisters. A hasty strike always misses its mark! Go, Nightingale!"

 **Yugo Sakaki/Yuto Sakaki: 1000 - 600 = 400LP**

"I will end my turn there. Well?" _(Dark Anthelion Dragon: 4200 - 1200 = 3000ATK) (Windwitch Winter Bell: 1200 x 2 = 2400ATK)_

"My turn." Yugo stepped forward. "Listen, I know you mean well, what with your scolding and all—but we're the only ones who get to scold the eggplant edgelord! Draw! I will activate Yuto's set The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine and special summon it! Then, I will activate Wrong Magnetring's effect and send it and another "Phantom Knights" card I control to the graveyard to draw two cards." Yugo shot him a look. He couldn't quite read it. "I will Normal Summon Speedroid Ohajikid _(3*/1000/200/WIND/Machine/Effect)_ from my hand. When Ohajikid is Normal Summoned, I can special summon a Tuner from either player's graveyard." He smiled, reaching a hand out to Rin. "May I borrow your Snow Bell for a second?"

Rin gave him a wry smile. "Not like I can say no."

"That's the spirit! Ok, so Ohajikid has an additional effect—I immediately Synchro Summon using the monster I summoned and Ohajikid! I tune the Level 1 Windwitch Snow Bell to the Level 3 Speedroid Ohajikid! Synchro Summon! Thousand-face possessing shadow of the labyrinth. With that sharp blade, render chaotic darkness! Synchro Summon! Level 4, Hi-Speedroid Puzzle!" _(4*/1300/1600/WIND/Machine/Synchro/Effect)_ He gave a wink. "See, I told you it would only be for a second! Have more faith in me, Rin!"

Rin and Yuto both winced at the same time, before exchanging a look. So informal… so Rin was an introvert like him too, huh? Her earlier statement still confused him, but he tried to focus. Tried to? He was already focused…

"Battle Phase! Hi-Speedroid Puzzle will attack Windwitch Niflheim Bell!"

"Are you crazy? Niflheim Bell has higher attack!" Rin exclaimed.

"When Hi-Speedroid Puzzle battles a special summoned monster, I can double its attack! Second Saber! Cleave it in two, Puzzle!" _(Hi-Speedroid Puzzle: 1300 x 2 = 2600ATK)_

Rin quickly opened the card that Ruri had set. "Trap card, Lyrical Luscinia Birdsong! This turn, you can only target the "Lyrical Luscinia" monster with the highest attack on my field for attacks! That will be Assembly Nightingale!" Puzzle paused. "Replay. Will you attack Assembly Nightingale?"

"Yup!"

"Geez… I will detach an Overlay Unit from Assembly Nightingale. This turn, I take no damage from battles involving "Lyrical Luscinia" monsters, and they are not destroyed by battle! Feather Barrier!" Another of Assembly Nightingale's Overlay Units flew forward, forming a barrier.

"Then there's no point in attacking with the other dragons. I will set two cards and end my turn."

"My turn!" Ruri chirped. "Draw! I will activate Sapphire Swallow's effect. I will special summon it and another Cobalt Sparrow from my hand. Cobalt Sparrow will add a "Lyrical Luscinia" to my hand again. I'll add another Lyrical Luscinia Ruby Raven to my hand and discard it to draw two cards. I will Normal Summon Lyrical Luscinia Turquoise Warbler _(1*/100/100/WIND/Winged-Beast/Effect)_ from my hand. I will Overlay my Level 1 Sapphire Swallow, Cobalt Sparrow and Turquoise Warbler! Bird of stars that sings in the glowing sunset. Appear before us! Xyz Summon! Rank 1! Lyrical Luscinia—Recital Starling!" _(R1/0/0/WIND/Winged-Beast/Xyz/Effect)_

Yugo's eyes widened comically. "Birdie…" he whispered. Yuto heard the beginning of a snort, and he couldn't tell if it came from Yuya or Yuri.

"When Recital Starling is summoned, it gives a monster on my field 300 attack and defence for each material used to summon it. I'll give the boost to Assembly Nightingale. Then, I will activate Recital Starling's effect. Once per turn, I detach one of its Overlay Units to add a Level 1 Winged Beast to my hand. I will add my final Ruby Raven to my hand. Now, Battle Phase! Assembly Nightingale will attack you directly! Avian Gale! She has 1300 attack, so you'll lose if it hits!"

"Trap card, activate! Speedroid Run Panic! I tribute a "Speedroid" on my field to gain life equal to its attack! I will tribute Hi-Speedroid Puzzle!"

 **Yugo Sakaki/Yuto Sakaki: 400 + 1300 - 1300 = 400LP**

"But I still have one more hit!" Ruri grinned. "Go, Assembly Nightingale! Avian Gale Two!"

"I will activate the effect of The Phantom Knights of Dichromatic Eyes in my graveyard! I can banish it to negate an attack!"

"Hmm… none of my monsters can defeat yours, and even if I were to try, Dark Anthelion Dragon could activate its effect… I will move to my Main Phase 2 and activate the effect of Windwitch Niflheim Bell! I have 5 "Windwitch" monsters in my graveyard! 1000 damage! Cold Whirlwind!"

"Man, but you guys are awesome!" Yugo chuckled. "I've never met anyone who could force us on a defensive like this! I'll banish my trap Speedroid Run Panic from the graveyard to negate one instance of effect damage!"

"You two are pretty resilient too." Ruri said with a gentle smile. "I end my turn."

"Nice!" Yugo turned to him. "This is really fun, isn't it? Yuto?"

There is another question in that statement, the same question that Dark Anthelion and his brothers have all been asking him this duel. He doesn't understand… he is having fun, isn't he?

" **Yuto."**

Surprisingly—or perhaps not at all—it is Yuri who finally speaks up.

" **Are you crazy, eggplant boy? I admit to having my own motives for organizing these duels, but I did want it to be an introduction of us to them and them to us. Look at yourself! This isn't you! Do you want to show this to them?"**

Show?... he thought about everything he had done in the duel so far. Bringing out Dark Rebellion and Dark Anthelion so quickly and aggressively, striking down Rin's monsters over and over again, refusing to let her monsters have any sort of strength…

 _I'm fighting like I'm angry, like how I faced off Hokuto..._ He gulped. _This is a friendly duel, but I'm treating it like a war… what's wrong with me?_

He tried to calm himself down. He hadn't even realised how wound up he was about today, about what April the 1st meant to him… He sighed. Dark Rebellion gave a growl. "Yeah, I'm back to myself." He said softly, smiling at the Kurosaki sisters. "I'm gonna make this fun. Draw!" The card that he drew caused him to sigh. Was this a sign or something? Whatever. "I will activate the spell card Sunset Calling! I can set two "Phantom Knights" traps with different names from the deck, and if my life is lower than 2000, they can be activated this turn! I will set one Phantom Knights Sword and one Phantom Knights Fog Blade from my deck!" The card let out bright orange-yellow light across the sea, even as his traps appeared. Ruri and Yuzu let out admiring gasps at the sight of the light. Dark Anthelion and Dark Rebellion both let out roars, with Clear Wing growling at them to calm down, though it too was smiling.

He smiled.

"Are you ready for our finish?"

Rin gave him an approving smile. "Now, there's spirit. Well, if you think you can take us down, go ahead!"

"I will have Dark Rebellion attack Lyrical Luscinia Assembly Nightingale! I then activate the trap card Phantom Knights' Sword and equip it to Dark Rebellion! Dark Rebellion gains 800 attack!"

"I'll activate the effect of Assembly Nightingale!"

"Sorry, Ruri." He smiled. "Like I said, I want to finish this with a bang. Trap card activate! Phantom Knights' Fog Blade! I equip it to Assembly Nightingale! I negate its effect, and it cannot attack or be attacked! I get a replay—Dark Rebellion will go after Recital Starling! Rebellious Lightning Disobey!"

Ruri smiled, while Rin sighed. The black haired girl laughed. "You had three attacking targets, but you ended up going for a draw, huh? I guess that's just what hubris is. Still I'm happy with this result. All damage I take from a battle involving Starling deals you the same amount!"

Mutual destruction… Yuto sighed. He shot Yugo an apologetic look, but his brother gave a large smile. Dark Rebellion struggled against Starling and eventually, they all exploded into sparks and flew all around them.

He was satisfied with this ending, too.

 **Rin Kurosaki/Ruri Kurosaki: 1500 - 3700 = 0LP**

 **Yugo Sakaki/Yuto Sakaki: 400 - 3700 = 0LP**

They all fell backwards and Yuto finds himself lying on the floor with a bright smile on his face. Yuya ran over to him and pulled him up. "Are you alright?"

"... Yeah."

He found the sunset before it was too late, huh? Heh… he was being far too sentimental about that old story. As the Solid Vision vanished, the orange light faded with it, revealing the blackness as they approached Academia.

As the sisters gathered together and started walking towards them, he turned to his brothers.

Yuri, with that cocky but concerned smirk.

Yugo, with that well-meaning confidence.

And Yuya, who held them all together.

" **Catch me if I fall into the darkness."** He said cryptically, before changing back to their normal language. "We're nearly there."

They all gathered around the railing, watching as they drew ever closer to Academia.

Yuya's hand closed around his own, while Yuri and Yugo moved closer.

They didn't need to say anything.

They would catch him.

They would guide him.

 **A/N:** **Hi everyone! Here's Chapter 5! Rin and Ruri have their debut duel, and we have a bit more Yu brothers bonding, because I'm a huge fan of that. Anyway, the normal ace monsters also debuted here (Winter Bell and Assembly Nightingale) as well a pair of Pendulums—Dark Anthelion Dragon from the manga (it has an official effect now!) and Rin's Synchro-Pendulum monster! Stats below :)**

 **Windwitch Niflheim Bell** _(7*/S4/2400/1500/WIND/Spellcaster/Synchro/Pendulum/Tuner/Effect)_

 _(1 WIND Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters)_

 _Pendulum Effect: You may send WIND monsters from your hand to the graveyard whose total levels equal 7 or more; special summon this card from your Pendulum Scale._

When this monster is summoned, you may add two monsters with "Windwitch" in their name from your deck to your hand.

Once per turn, you may deal your opponent 200 damage for each "Windwitch" monster in your graveyard.

When this card is destroyed, you may place it in your Pendulum Scale.

 **Now, the Chapter Preview!**

 _Chapter Preview: Chapter 6—Abyss Stage_

 _The Sakaki brothers reach Academia, where they are split into different dorms. They meet their roommates, and Yuya is challenged by one of his roommates, and they decide to duel the next day…_

 **As usual, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. I really appreciated that you took the time to read this! See you soon! :)**

 **-Blaise**

 **Edit: (8/7/19) Fixed some formatting issues.**


	6. Chapter 6: Abyss Stage

The man watched the camera feed. "This was from March 21st then? The day of the break-in?"

"Yes, sir."

The video played. A cloaked figure ran into the research lab, snatching a group of twelve cards from the table. The thief glanced around frantically, before loud footsteps could be heard on the speakers. The figure turned to the window, broke it and jumped out of it.

This was quite the disaster. To think that out of all the projects in that lab, the thief had gone after those cards in particular… had he or she known or suspected what they were? Reiji turned to his secretary. "Send a copy of the footage to my father; he may have further insight on it." His father had always been surprisingly good at predicting the motives of criminals from a small amount of information. "Are the sensors up?"

"Yes. If anyone tries to enter Academia with those cards in their duel disk, we'll know."

A temporary measure, but they had to find those cards as quickly as possible. He sighed. "Do you have the emails of our new teachers? Asuka Tenjoin and Judai Yuki?" At the man's nod, he gestured for the man to write it down. "That will do. Thank you, Nakajima."

The man left the room. Reiji looked at the computer. So they couldn't do anything more about the cards until they got more data… and there was the other issue.

Yusho Sakaki's sons were coming to Academia.

He wanted to talk to them, but they probably didn't know much more about their father's disappearance than he did. Hopefully the culprit didn't come to Academia and they would be kept safe… heh. He was being so soft. Reira would laugh.

He closed the tab with one final look at it.

A storm was coming.

* * *

"What a surprise." Yuto glanced at the paper detailing all the dorms. "We were all put in Ra Yellow, but we're in separate rooms—Yuya and I are together with two other people, and it's the same for you two."

"Switch." Yuri said immediately. "I'll probably murder banana head here if I have to stay with only him and two strangers."

"Hey!... actually, that's true."

"Well, I'm perfectly happy with my room, so no." Yuto passed his copy of the paper over to Yuri, before grabbing Yuya's hand. "Come on, let's go."

"R-right!"

To his other two brothers' protests, they went towards the dorms. Ra Yellow was a fairly average dorm from the pictures he had seen while researching boarding schools online. Stained yellow brick walls, a kitchen on the first floor and stairs that led to the second floor, where there were identical wooden doors lining the corridor. Yuto grabbed the keys by the door labeled "027" and unlocked it. There was a simple room with four beds, one toilet (Yuya suspected that would be a problem) and a small counter, as well as a television at the end of the room. All in all, not too bad.

He had just settled on the bed when their other two roommates came in.

"And I'm telling you, the one and only Shingo Sawatari will get to Obelisk Blue in no time at all! You see, I'm the best duelist in Academia, and therefore... "

The other roommate, a tall and clearly muscular teen, groaned as the first one began talking about how amazing he was. He entered the room, before placing his things by a bed as well. Yuto shot him a sympathetic look. "Has he been like this all this time?"

"The whole way here." The boy looked at them, and Yuya felt short all of a sudden. "This man, Gongenzaka, is very happy to meet you. What are your names?"

"I'm Yuya, he's Yuto." Yuya said with an earnest grin. "Nice to meet you too, Gongenzaka!"

"Hey! Pay attention to me!" The three all turned back to the blonde teen who had just noticed that they weren't looking at him. "Do you know who I am? You should be honoured to be in my presence!"

"You're Shingo Sawatari," Yuto said calmly, surprising Yuya—he had never heard of this person before. "You're the son of Mayor Sawatari from Maiami City. Your father became mayor three years ago, and you went to Maiami Prep School."

"That's right! I'm glad I have such a loyal fan!"

"I'm not your fan." Yuto was glaring now, barely hiding his distaste. "We know each other—my name is Yuto Sakaki." Sawatari blanched, his face going white. "Have fun with the idiot, Gongenzaka, Yuya. I'm gonna use the toilet." He stood up, and Yuya watched with bewilderment as Sawatari actually shrank away from his brother as he walked past. It wasn't like Yuto was that scary, and how would Yuto know him anyway?"

Maiami…

"You're Sakaki?" Sawatari was staring at him, as was Gongenzaka.

He frowned. "Yeah. Didn't you see my duel? I was the last to duel, against Professor Chronos…"

"Yeah, I saw." Sawatari shook his head. "But you guys were smiling so much just now… you look younger when you're not duelling, you know that?" He stared towards the toilet. "Your brother is still just as scary as ever. I was hoping to avoid him for a while."

"What happened?"

"Uh… ok, I'm curious. Before your brother comes out and tries to massacre me, can you duel me tomorrow?" He shrugged. "I'm an Entertainment Duelist too, you know? I'm Neo New Sawatari, the ultimatest best duelist!" Surprisingly, Yuya thought he heard Gongenzaka snort, but when he looked the boy's face was as stoic as before.

"Sure! A real duelist never turns down a duel!" He paused, thinking about his brothers. "Well, unless you need to water your poisonous plants, ride your motorcycle, go to work, use the toilet… you know what never mind. I'll duel you!" He gave a wink. "Let's duel tomorrow, alright?"

At Sawatari's nod, Yuya moved backwards on the bed—and noticed the shadow of a figure on the toilet door. He sighed, before he spoke up again.

"If it's fine with you," he said as loudly as he could get away with it while purposely gesturing towards the toilet subtly. "I'd like to know about how you met my brother." He saw a nod and Sawatari unknowingly mirrored it.

"Well, I was twelve and stupid and…" he puffed up, "well, not stupid but I was in Maiami Prep School with you, and I heard about…"

Yuya could tell that he didn't really want to say it. He already knew. Twelve was when his dad had left. "It's fine, I figured it out. Go on, please."

"So I was going over to tease you about it, but your brother stopped me because he heard me laughing about it. And well… he decided to duel me to keep me away from you."

Honestly, that didn't really surprise him. Yuto, Yugo and Yuri had always been extremely overprotective. He smiled. "Well, I assume you're not that stupid now, are you?" He said cheerfully. "Let's let bygones be bygones, right Yuto?"

Sawatari's quiet shriek caused both Gongenzaka and him to start laughing.

* * *

["Welcome to Duel Academia. I am Reiji Akaba, the Headmaster of this academy."]

Yugo leaned over to Yuri. "His hair is really bright grey. Do you think he's dyed it? Or is he like really old?"

Yuri rolled his eyes. "Why are you asking that, banana?"

["The fact that you have been accepted into this academy displays your skill and your potential. Above all, our purpose is to guide you to your full potential as duelists. We're the best academy in the world, and we assure you that you have not made a mistake by coming here."]

"I mean, look at his face! He looks like a robot!"

["All students here will be going to classes with all other students in their year. In a brief summary of the classes that you will be taking here…"]

Yuri heard snoring from next to him and resisted the urge to groan. However, before he could do something needlessly violent and painful to wake Yugo up, Rin Kurosaki came up with a large pink fan and smacked the back of Yugo's head. "Wake up, idiot!" She passed the fan to Yuzu. "Thanks."

[Firstly, you will have Card Theory with Professor Chronos di Medici. You will be taught other basic subjects such as mathematics and science as well, though on a less frequent basis due to this being a duelling academy.]

"Ow!" Yugo held his head. "Why?"

"Pay attention!" Rin scolded. "Do you want to get in trouble?"

["You will be taught other Summoning methods. Namely, Pendulum, Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, Ritual and Link. Some of you may already know these methods, and in that case, you may take a test to drop those classes in favour of taking classes with the second years—that is, those that have not skipped a year like you."]

"Of course not! But Yuto's paying attention and he's a responsible person anyway, so I don't need to!"

"That's no excuse!"

Serena sighed, as did Yuzu. "Guess we'll be seeing this often. Where are Yuya and Yuto anyway?"

He gave them a smirk. "All the way in front. Why, Yuzu? Do you want to talk to Yuya?"

Yuzu shook her head, oblivious to what he actually meant. "Nah. I can see just fine from here."

["We hope that you will enjoy your time here. Now, please follow Professor Chronos to the Duel Theory room."]

"Oh?" Rin looked up. "Is the speech over?"

Yuri patted her shoulder. "You should pay more attention." At her fuming look, he grinned and went to look for Yuya to complain about his roommates.

The moment Yuri Sakaki met Shingo Sawatari, he was immediately annoyed enough to consider murder. Unfortunately, Yuto was giving him the "be civil" look, so Yuya probably already talked the other out of it. Aww… pity. The pompous idiot could make a good snack for Starving Venom.

He laughed internally. Maybe his own roommates weren't that horrible after all.

* * *

"Duel!"

It was now around four in the afternoon. They had just sat through an agonizingly long lecture and Yuya was ready to finally wake up his brain a little. He had heard Rin and Yuzu scolding Yugo in the background and snickered. At least he had been sitting next to Yuri, and Yuri would never out him to anyone.

 **[Master Duel!]**

 **Shingo Sawatari: 4000LP**

 **Yuya Sakaki: 4000LP**

"I, the Neo Ultimate Shingo Sawatari, shall begin! I will set the Scale 0 Abyss Actor Mellow Madonna _(7*/S0/1800/2500/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)_ in the Pendulum Scale!"

Yuya laughed. "A Pendulum user too!"

"Yeah! I, Shingo Sawatari am the ultimate Pendulum user!" He held out his hand. "Mellow Madonna's effect! I will pay 1000 life points to add an "Abyss Actor" Pendulum monster from my deck to my hand! I will add Abyss Actor Trendy Littlestar _(4*/S9/1000/1000/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)_ to my hand!"

 **Shingo Sawatari: 4000 - 1000 = 3000LP**

"Now I will activate the Field Spell Abyss Script Fantastic Theater! With its effect, I will reveal an Abyss Actor and an Abyss Script card in my hand! I will reveal the beautiful Twinkle Littlestar and the Abyss Script Fire Dragon Lair in my hand! Then, I can add an "Abyss Script" card with a different name to my hand!" He gave a bow. "To me, my Abyss Script Opening Ceremony! Now, I shall Pendulum Summon! Come on out, Abyss Actor Leading Lady _(4*S2/1500/1000/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)_ and Abyss Actor Superstar!" _(7*/S3/2500/1800/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)_

Actors, huh? Actors of the Abyss… he could tell that Shingo was an Entertainment duelist too, and a very showy one.

"I will end my turn here! Come at me, Yuya!"

"Oh, I will!" He gave a bright smile. "Are you ready?"

"Of course! No matter what you throw at me, wicked dragon, I shall emerge victorious!" Shingo said with a cocky grin.

So he was the heel here, huh? "Draw! I will set the Scale 3 Performapal Gold Fang _(4*/S3/1800/700/LIGHT/Beast/Pendulum/Effect)_ and the Scale 8 Odd-Eyes Arc Pendulum Dragon _(7*/S8/2700/2000/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum)_ in my Pendulum Scales!" He extended his hand. "Prepare yourself, dark hero! I shall defeat you with the monsters I have tamed! I will Normal Summon Performapal Skullcrobat Joker _(4*/S8/1800/100/DARK/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect)_ and his effect shall add Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon _(7*/S4/2500/2000/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_ to my hand! Pendulum Summon! Appear, Performapal Fire Mufflerlion _(3*/S5/800/800/FIRE/Beast/Pendulum/Effect)_ and the one, the only Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

"So the wicked dragon and its fire slave have appeared!" Shingo reached out his hand towards Yuya dramatically. "But I shall protect these innocent people—for it is the duty of my troupe!"

Rin, Yuzu and Yuto's eyes twitched. Yuzu gave a mutter under her breath. "Who needs to be protected? I swear, if Yuya doesn't win I'll break both their heads in with my fan."

"Break Sawatari's head." Yuto muttered in reply. "Just don't touch Yuya or we'll have to deal with those two."

Yuya wanted to sigh at those words. Come on, Yuto was just as bad as the other two and he knew it! "You won't be able to protect them from me! Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon will battle! Crush Abyss Actor Superstar!"

"Are you insane?" Shingo's eyes widened comically. "They have the same attack!"

"Yes, they do." He held out his hand. "Do it, Odd-Eyes! Spiral Strike Burst!" The blast from the attack destroyed both monsters. Shingo gave him a surprised look.

"Good move, Yuya." Yuto said with a smile. "When he takes battle damage, he can lower your monsters' attack with Leading Lady."

Could he? That was interesting, but not the point. "Now, since an "Odd-Eyes" card was destroyed, I can activate the effect of the Odd-Eyes Arc Pendulum Dragon in my Pendulum Scale! Once per turn, I can special summon an "Odd-Eyes" from my hand, deck or graveyard! Come from my deck, the dragon with the demon's eyes, Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon!" _(7*/S4/2500/2000/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_

Shingo gave him an encouraging grin, before he gave a bow. "So this is the ultimate dragon of the demon? I shall destroy it!"

"Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon will attack your Abyss Actor Leading Lady! And when Phantom deals you battle damage, you'll take another 1200 damage for each "Odd-Eyes" card in my scales! Go, Odd Eyes Phantom Dragon! Phantom Spiral Flame! Atomic Force!"

"Sorry, Yuya! But my Stage's effect activates! All monster effects you activate change to destroy one set card I control! And since I control no set cards, your effect does not activate!"

The dragon let out a breath of flame, which washed over Shingo and his monster.

 **Shingo Sawatari: 3000 - 1000 = 2000LP**

"Destruction by battle happens after damage calculation though! Leading Lady will decrease your Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon's attack by 1000!"

"Ooh, not bad!" He had originally planned to use Fire Mufflerlion's effect to defeat Shingo, but now he would actually have to wait until he could destroy the stage. "I'll end my turn there, over to you! Try your best to defeat me, hero!"

"Oh, I will!"

He heard Yuto sigh. "You're getting very into it…"

"My turn! Draw! Pendulum Summon! Return from the Extra Deck, Abyss Actor Superstar! And come from my hand, Abyss Actor Wild Hope!" _(4*/S2/1600/1200/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)_

The monsters gave a dramatic bow.

"Now, for the performance! I will activate the spell card Abyss Script Fire Dragon's Lair! When my Abyss Actor Superstar destroys your monster by battle, you banish three cards from your Extra Deck! Then, Twinkle Littlestar's Pendulum Effect! Superstar can attack your monsters thrice this battle phase, but no other monster can attack! Destroy his two monsters, Superstar!"

His monsters were wiped off the field. He gave a sigh as he banished six cards from his Extra Deck—his Performapal Gatling Ghoul, Performapal Odd-Eyes Metal Claw, Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon, Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon, Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon and Hope Magician. That left his Extra Deck empty except for his Pendulum monsters—he should probably have used other cards, but…

 **Yuya Sakaki: 4000 - 1000 = 3000LP**

"I will end my turn." Shingo held out his hand. "Well? Will you surrender, villain?"

"No!" He replied with a smirk. "You know, you prance around with fiends and dance with monsters—and yet you proclaim yourself the hero? I refuse to accept that! I, Yuya Sakaki, shall become the hero in your place!" He closed his eyes. Please… yes! "I will activate the ritual spell card Odd-Eyes Advent! I can tribute Pendulum cards I control or in my hand to summon a Dragon Ritual Monster from my hand or graveyard!" He raised his hand. "However, since my opponent controls two or more monsters while I control none, I can also send "Odd-Eyes" monsters from my Extra Deck to the graveyard as tribute! I will tribute the Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon in my Extra Deck!"

The ground shook, even as the altar depicted in the card appeared, with the spirit of Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon vanishing into it. Then, it exploded, the dust forming into a new dragon. The dragon had a rock-like body with granite coating orange scales.

"Come, dragon who possesses the power of nature! Ritual Summon—Level 7, Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon!" _(7*/2800/2000/EARTH/Dragon/Ritual/Effect)_

Shingo gulped. "H-hey. That dragon is rather terrifying."

"Yep, it is! And it's going to tear down your stage! I will activate Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon's effect! When I special summon it, I return all spells and traps you control to the hand—and you cannot activate effects in response to this! Say goodbye to your field spell!"

Shingo sighed as the card returned to his hand. "You're gonna crush me, aren't you?"

"Yep! Pendulum Summon! Return from the Extra Deck! The one, the only—Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" The dragons let out similar roars. "Yes, yes. Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, attack Abyss Actor Wild Hope! Spiral Strike Burst! Reaction Force!"

 **Shingo Sawatari: 2000 - 900x2 = 200LP**

"And now, Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon will attack Abyss Actor Superstar!"

"I will—"

"Nope. No card effects allowed. This is the finale! When Gravity Dragon is on the field, you have to pay 500 life points to use effects! Gravity Rest!"

"What?!"

 **Shingo Sawatari: 200 - 300 = 0LP**

"Tada!" He gave his two dragons a high-five before they vanished, before offering Shingo a hand. The blonde took it as Yuya pulled him to his feet. "Thanks for the duel!"

"Yeah." Shingo grinned. "Thanks."

They began to disperse, heading back to the dorms and school. Yuya was about to follow Yuto, before he heard a voice.

" **You… you are the one. Please help us."**

He froze, turning to Yuto with an uncertain look. "Did you hear that?"

It was Yuri who answered. "We all did." He said, looking into the trees.

Yuya looked towards the direction the voice had come from as well. Then, he took off in a run, ignoring the shocked shouts of his brothers. The voice continued calling him, guiding him through the trees as he got closer and closer to it.

And then… a building, with broken windows and shadows casted all around it. He stepped closer to it.

"Yuya!" He heard Yuto call.

His sight remained on the door.

He wanted to know. Who was calling. Why they were calling.

He opened the door and stepped inside.

Inside something? Somewhere? It didn't feel like he was inside of the building he had seen, he was surrounded by murky darkness and—

"Yuya!"

His brothers' voices called on repeat. What was this place?

He heard footsteps, and a figure stepped in front of him. " **You speak it. The demon's tongue."** The figure hissed.

" **Yes, I do."** He said, although he felt disappointed. Somehow, the idea of having their own secret language had been something he enjoyed a lot, but to have someone else speak it…

The figure stepped forward again. " **What is your name?"**

" **Yuya Sakaki."**

" **Do you seek power?"**

He frowned. " **No. I seek happiness."**

The figure let out a loud laugh. "Happiness?" He asked, in normal words this time. "Truly, you are different from the ones who have come here all this time. Well then, those who wish not for power are often the best to wield it. Duel me, Yuya Sakaki."

"Hold on! I don't want to fight you!"

The figure gave a short snort. "You don't have a choice. Fight me. Or else, I will take their souls in exchange for your freedom."

The darkness cleared, showing him the image of Yuto, Yugo and Yuri tied onto stakes, raised from the ground. He bit his tongue.

"Are you more amenable to a duel now?"

"No. But I don't have a choice. Prepare yourself, spirit! Duel!"

 **Yuya Sakaki: 4000LP**

 **Noelev En: 4000LP**

Yuya frowned at the name. Noelev? What kind of name was that?

"I will begin. I will activate the continuous spell card Replica of Sadness. Twice per turn, I can place a Sadness Counter on this card to special summon a monster from my deck. I will place two counters." The spirit paused. "I know not what your Master Duel is, but in this space we do not conduct them. So this will be a "Standard Duel", as it were. Now, come from my deck! Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio _(4*/1200/800/DARK/Plant/Effect)_ and The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves!" _(3*/1000/500/DARK/Warrior/ Effect)_

Yuya froze. Then, he clenched his fists. "You stole their cards? You bastard…"

"With Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio's effect, I will discard Speedroid Tri-Eyed Dice _(3*/300/1500/WIND/Machine/Tuner/Effect)_ to special summon Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra _(3*/1000/1500/DARK/Plant/Effect)_ from the deck. Cobra will add Polymerisation to my hand. Then, I will activate the effect of The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots _(3*/ 200/1200/DARK/Warrior/Effect)_ and special summon it. I will Overlay my two Phantom Knights! Rank 3! The Phantom Knights of Break Sword! _(R3/2000/1000/DARK/ Warrior/Xyz/Effect)_ Then, I will play the spell card Polymerisation! I will fuse the two Predaplants on my field! Fusion Summon! Predaplant Chimerafflesia!" _(7*/2500/2000/ DARK/Plant/Fusion/Effect)_ The spirit gave a sigh. "I end my turn."

"Unforgivable…"

He felt Odd Eyes roar in his deck. Angry for his own brothers.

"How dare you steal their cards…" The rage built up. "I will crush you. Draw. With the Scale 3 Xiangke Magician _(7*/S3/2500/500/DARK/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect)_ and the Scale 8 Xiangsheng Magician _(4*/S8/500/1500/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect)_ I will set the Pendulum Scales! Swing, pendulum of despair and rage! Create an arc of light across the aether! Pendulum Summon! Come, Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon, _(5*/S1/1200/2400/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_ Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon and Performapal U-Go Golem!" _(4*/S1/1600/1000/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)_

He would completely destroy whoever this was. "I will now Normal Summon Performapal Skullcrobat Joker. With its effect, I will add another Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon to my hand! Now—I will Overlay my Level 7 Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! Dragon of the far north, bring your winter wind to us—and unleash the relentless blizzard! Xyz Summon—Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon! _(R7/2800/2000/WATER/Dragon/Xyz/Effect)_ Then, I will Overlay my two Level 4 monsters! Magician who presides over all hope! Descend! Xyz Summon—Rank 4, Hope Magician!" _(R4/S8/2500/2000/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Xyz/Pendulum/Effect)_

 _They're in danger because of you._

 _This is your fault._

 _They'll never trust you again._

"Argh…! I will have Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon activate its effect! I will negate the effect of Predaplant Chimerafflesia! So now, it can't change the attack of itself and the other battling monster! Wreck it, Absolute! Blizzard Emptiness!"

Absolute ran forward, unleashing freezing gales of wind on the plant monster. The monster was destroyed.

"While my continuous spell is on the field, I take no damage from battles involving my monsters. And when a monster is destroyed, I place a Sadness Counter on the spell!"

"No… destroy The Phantom Knights of Break Sword, Hope Magician! Moon Blast!" The spellcaster shout out a bright gold blast that decimated the knight.

"Another Counter. And Break Sword's effect will special summon back two "Phantom Knights" with the same level from the graveyard as monsters one level higher. Return, Ragged Gloves, Silent Boots!"

"I will end my turn."

"Impulsive, Yuya Sakaki. Tell me… how will you handle this? Draw! During the Standby Phase, Chimerafflesia will add Polymerisation back to my hand! I will place two Sadness Counters on my continuous spell! Come, Speedroid Terrortop _(3*/1200/600/WIND/Machine/Effect)_ and Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice! _(1*/100/100/WIND/Machine/ Tuner/Effect)_ I will activate Terrortop's effect! I will add Speedroid Taketomborg _(3*/600/1200/WIND/Machine/Effect)_ to my hand! Now—I Overlay my two Level 4 monsters!"

He couldn't be…

"Formed from pitch-black darkness, to fight those foolish enough to oppose it with its treacherous fangs! Now, descend! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!" _(R4/2500/2000/DARK/Dragon/Xyz/Effect)_

He could only gape as Dark Rebellion descended opposite him. He—no, this was just cruel… he forced himself to respond, because he knew what would happen next. "I will activate Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon's effect now! I negate Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon's effect!"

"And now, I shall tune the Level 1 Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice to the Level 3 Taketomborg and the Level 3 Terrortop! Spread those wondrous and beautiful wings, and strike down your enemies at the speed of light! Synchro Summon! Appear now—Level 7, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!" _(7*/2500/2000/WIND/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)_

Clear Wing and Dark Rebellion… he closed his eyes. He had to cripple Dark Rebellion before Clear Wing came out, or…

"Now, I will activate the spell card Seed Fertiliser! I special summon two Plant monsters from the graveyard, but they cannot attack and are destroyed at the end of the turn! I will special summon Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio and Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra! Now, I will activate Polymerisation! Two beautiful flowers with an insect-alluring fragrance! Now become one, and from the hell beneath your petals, give birth to a new terror! Fusion Summon! Appear! Poisonous dragon with hungry fangs—Level 8! Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!" _(8*/2800/2000/DARK/Dragon/Fusion/Effect)_

Was he supposed to hurt them? He didn't want to…

"Starving Venom Fusion Dragon's effect. It will gain the attack of Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon. It will also gain the effects of Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon on the field. Battle! Starving Venom Fusion Dragon will attack Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon! Toxic Spore!"

Starving Venom swooped down towards him. He held his hand up. "I detach one Overlay Unit from Odd Eyes Absolute Dragon to activate its effect! Once per turn, I negate the attack and special summon an Odd-Eyes from the hand or graveyard! Come back, Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon! Frigid Barrier!" Absolute let out a fearsome roar as Starving Venom was blown back.

"Hmm… Clear Wing Synchro Dragon will attack your Odd Eyes Persona Dragon! Helldive Whirlwind Slasher!"

The monster was blown away.

"Now, I will activate the effect that Starving Venom stole from Odd Eyes Persona Dragon. I negate Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon's effects. And then I will activate the quickplay spell card Rebellion Fangs in my hand. An Dragon-type Xyz monster on my field has its attack doubled until the end of the turn! Go, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon! Attack Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon! Rebellious Lightning Disobey!"

Dark Rebellion came towards him.

And it froze. It let out a mournful howl, even as sparks flew from its body. Clear Wing and Starving Venom joined in. Yuya saw tears form in the dark dragon's eyes.

He felt tears on his own cheeks. "I've made you play an ugly role here, Dark Rebellion, Clear Wing, Starving Venom. I'm so sorry." He held out his hand. "Hey, Dark Rebellion… it's alright. Strike me down. I won't fault you."

Dark Rebellion gave another howl, before it struck out with its lightning. Yuya but his lip so hard that it began bleeding. He hadn't ever been subjected to the true force of Dark Rebellion's lightning…

 **Yuya Sakaki: 4000 - 2200 = 1800LP**

The pain hit all his nerves, bit at his body. He barely managed to force himself to not scream, and even that was the least of his concerns.

"This is the pain of a Shadow Game." The spirit said.

Shadow Game? What the hell was that?

God, the pain was so much greater—normal Solid Vision might cause slight injuries, but nothing like this.

He forced himself up. He held out his hand. "End your turn." He breathed out. "I've braved your attacks—it's your turn to take mine!"

"Very well. I end my turn."

"Draw!" He saw the card. He knew what he would have to do. It didn't make it any easier.

"Pendulum Summon! Return from the Extra Deck, Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon! And from my hand, Performapal Trump Witch _(1*/S4/100/100/DARK/Spellcaster/Effect)_ I will have Trump Witch activate its effect! I tribute it to add Polymerisation to my hand! I will activate Polymerisation! I will fuse Persona and Phantom! Dragon that rides the high gale along the heavens! Arrive here now! Fusion Summon—Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon!" _(7*/2500/3000/WIND/Dragon/Fusion/Effect)_

The monster arrived, its emerald scales gleaming. He smiled at it softly, as it gave him a reassuring growl. "I will activate Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon's effect! When special summoned, I can return one face-up attack position monster to the hand! I will return Starving Venom Fusion Dragon—and since it's a Extra Deck monster, it returns to the Extra Deck! Heavenly Gale of Return!" So Starving Venom's effect wouldn't trigger...

"Clear Wing Synchro Dragon's effect! Since a Level 5 or higher monster activated its effect, I destroy the monster and negate the effect! Dichroic Mirror!"

"No, I won't let that happen. The second effect of Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon activates! Once per turn, an effect is activated, I can shuffle a Pendulum Monster in my Extra Deck into my Deck to negate and destroy the card! I shuffle Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon into the Deck—Sanctuary Storm!"

Both Clear Wing and Starving Venom were taken off the field. One more counter was added to the spell due to Clear Wing's destruction.

"Battle! Hope Magician will battle Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon! They will both be destroyed!"

Both monsters were destroyed and the eighth counter was added to Noelev's spell. Yuya frowned at it. He didn't know what the spell did, but it couldn't be anything good. But he couldn't destroy it right now.

"Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon will attack now! Holy Tornado!" Vortex shot out a large gust of wind, and it struck Noelev, forcing him to the ground.

 **Noelev En: 4000 - 2500 = 1500LP**

Noelev gave a loud chuckle. "As expected, you aimed straight to kill me, Yuya Sakaki. Good. As long as you have both that resolve and… focus, you will be able to destroy the power that wishes to use us. When I take battle damage, my spell is destroyed, and you take 500 damage for each counter on it. However, your life points will not go below one. Show me your resolve, Yuya Sakaki!"

Resolve, he said…

"The first bullet! Feel your own despair!"

" _Yuya… I don't think your dad will be coming. Let's just pack up the cake, alright?"_

" _No! Dad will come! He will! I did all this just for him… he will come! Dad… please…"_

 **Yuya Sakaki: 1800 - 500 = 1300LP**

"The second bullet!"

 _Yuto flung Yugo into the wall. "Shut up!" He screamed. "Just shut up! I don't want to believe in that man anymore!" Both of them looked dishevelled, with tears on their faces._

 **Yuya Sakaki: 1300 - 500 = 800LP**

"The third bullet!"

" _Was it because I wasn't good enough?" He asked Yuri. His second oldest brother sighed._

" _Hell if I know. Look, Yuya. I don't know how to comfort you." He sat down. "All I can say is that no matter what he thought, he is the one who wasn't good enough for us. For you."_

 _He didn't believe it._

 **Yuya Sakaki: 800 - 500 = 300LP**

"The fourth!"

 _Yugo was in the hospital, because he had gotten in a Turbo Duel with someone on the street who had stolen his wallet. The sign was beeping._

" _We don't have much hope. Only a miracle can save your son now." The doctor told his mother._

 _Yuya buried his head in his hands._

 **Yuya Sakaki: 300 - 500 = 1LP (Cannot go lower)**

"The fifth!"

" _Listen there, kid." The man stepped towards him. "You're not cut out for the big leagues. You're so small. So fragile." He revealed his stained teeth. "I know how to make you break."_

 _He screamed._

 _A fist slammed into the man's gut. Yuto stood there, even as the man choked and fell. Yugo was giving the man a disgusted look._

 _He ran and hugged them._

"The sixth!"

 _He walked down the stairs._

" _Look. This won't work out." Yuri sighed. "We have to go. For all of our sakes, we have to go. Because we have to be with Yuya, and mum has to be able to live happily."_

 _Yeah… he had been a horrible son for his mother._

"The seventh!"

 _Yuto, Yugo and Yuri were on the floor._

 _Yuto was carefully placing salt water on the wound on Yugo's face, even as the other had let out more stifled loud noises much like the one that had woken Yuya up. Yuri was bleeding too, but had clearly made Yuto work on Yugo first._

 _He could pretend he hadn't heard anything. Didn't know about what his brothers were doing in the night. Like he didn't wake up in the middle of the night to a silent bedroom nowadays._

 _He stepped into the room, and wordlessly grabbed a bottle of saline water from the shelf._

He coughed as he forced his way through the vision. "That's not despair," he replied. "You have an odd definition of it. We lived. We fought through all of that. I still had Yuto, Yugo and Yuri. With them, I have no despair."

"Oh? The eighth bullet."

" _I guess the children of Yusho Sakaki are pathetic runaways too. Maybe I'll track the other three down later and cut them open."_

 _How dare he… how dare he…_

 _Yuya blacked out._

 _He woke up in the middle of a bloody arena, even as Odd Eyes was landing back next to him, still screaming for him to stop._

 _The man had died._

He finally screamed. Screamed, because that moment had lost him so much. Had lost them so much, all because of him…

" **Is that all your will amounts to?"**

" **Come on, Yuya. You know you're strong."**

" **You will protect them, won't you?"**

The spirits of Starving Venom, Clear Wing and Dark Rebellion appeared in front of him. They didn't say anything else.

Yuya stood up. "I end my turn." He said hoarsely. "It's your move."

 **A/N:** **So… This chapter was going to be way, way longer than normal. Like, 12000 words long. I may have been a little zealous in finishing this particular introduction mini arc. Anyway, I decided to cut it here. So the next chapter will resume the duel!**

 **(Also, cutting it gives me time to proofread the next bit and make sure I didn't get anything wrong :))**

 _Chapter Preview: Chapter 7–Empty Eyes_

 _Yuya continues duelling Noelev, who on his turn brings out four fearsome monsters. Yuya must figure out a way to win against them, or he and his brothers' souls shall all be forfeit…_

 **Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!**

 **-Blaise**

 **Edit: (8/7/19) Some minor edits to the duel to correct a few stats that I typed in wrong. Also, centralising of life points.**


	7. Chapter 7: Empty Eyes

"Draw."

Yuya panted, his energy drained from the previous turn.

" **Yuya! Yuya!"**

" **Yuya, are you alright? I'm going to poison that bloody—"**

" **You can do it!"**

Yuya blinked wearily. "Yuto? Yuri? Yugo? No, I must be imagining it." He focused on Noelev. "I just have to protect them and win. Just have to win."

"On the Standby Phase after my Replica of Sadness was destroyed by its own effect, I can activate the continuous trap Mimicry of Rage directly from my deck. I can put two Rage Counters on it to special summon a "Number" Xyz Monster from my Extra Deck and attach an Extra Deck monster in my graveyard to it as material. You cannot negate this effect; however I cannot battle this turn. I will place eight Rage Counters on it. Come, Number 85: Crazy Box! _(R4/3000/300/DARK/Fiend/Xyz/Effect)_ Number 70: Deadly Sin! _(R4/2400/1200/DARK/Insect/Xyz/Effect)_ Number 11: Big Eye! _(R7/2600/2000/DARK/Spellcaster/Xyz/Effect)_ And Number 86: Heroic Champion Rhongomyniad!" _(R4/1500/1500/DARK/Warrior/Xyz/Effect)_

Four Xyz Monsters in just one move?

"I will detach an Overlay Unit from Number 70: Deadly Sin to activate its effect. I will banish Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon _(7*/2500/3000/WIND/Dragon/Fusion/Effect)_ from the field."

"I will activate Odd Eyes Vortex Dragon's effect! I will shuffle Odd Eyes Phantom Dragon _(7*/S4/2500/2000/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_ into the Deck to negate the effect and destroy your monster. Sanctuary Storm!"

All of a sudden, he heard Yuri screaming. He tried to shut his thoughts away. Just think about winning…

Noelev smiled.

"You fell for it. I will detach one Overlay Unit from Number 11 to activate its effect. I will take control of your monster, but Big Eye cannot attack this turn—not that it matters."

Vortex.

The monster was dragged towards the other's side. Noelev grinned. "I end my turn. Now what will you do?"

What will he do? He closed his eyes. _Please, lend me your strength._ He told his deck. _Please, let me save them._

He drew.

He laughed. A short burst of laughter. "I will activate the spell card Last Pendulum Swing! At the end of this turn, I lose. However, I may place five Pendulum monsters from my graveyard and deck into the Extra Deck, and negate the effects of all face-up cards on your field!"

He needed power. He needed the power to win. To save them.

"I will place Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon _(7*/S4/2500/2000/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_ from the graveyard, Odd Eyes Phantom Dragon, _(7*/S4/2500/2000/DARK/ Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_ Odd Eyes Persona Dragon, _(5*/S1/1200/2400/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_ Odd Eyes Arc Pendulum Dragon _(7*/S8/2700/2000/DARK/Dragon/ Pendulum)_ and Odd Eyes Mirage Dragon _(3*/S8/1200/600/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_ from the Deck! Pendulum Summon! Come, my monsters!" All five of the dragons appeared on his field in various bursts of light, letting out howls. "We'll finish this here!"

In his mind's eye, the image of a dragon appeared. A dragon with Odd Eyes' ruby scales and long, iridescent glass-like wings, with long claws and a long, snake-like tail.

 _You guys… trying to help me save myself? Or to help me save them?_

His most faithful partner turned to him and let out an exasperated growl.

 _No difference? That hurts, Odd Eyes. But you're right. Me, Yugo, Yuto, Yuri… we're one and the same. We've been through the same experiences, the same sadness, the same tears. The same smiles._

 _So I'll save them. I swear to whatever gods there may be that I will save them!_

Two steps. He needed two steps to bring that card out.

 _If you can hear me, Anthelion… I need you._

He held up his hand. "I Overlay Odd Eyes Phantom Dragon and Odd Eyes Arc Pendulum Dragon!" He saw the card that he needed materialise in his hand. "Fangs of rebellion gain new power and slash the pall of darkness! Awaken, dark raging dragon that presides over the battlefield! Xyz Summon! Rank 7! Dark Anthelion Dragon!" _(R7/S10/3000/ 2500/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)_

The silver-indigo dragon appeared with a loud howl. He gave a soft smile. "Yeah. We'll save them. I will activate the Pendulum Effect of Xiangke Magician _(7*/S3/2500/500/ DARK/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect)_ and allow Dark Anthelion to be used this turn as an Xyz Material with the same Level as its rank!"

"What's the point of that?"

"There is a point to everything!" He shouted back. "That's what I believe, and that's what I'll keep believing! I— _with my brothers, I have no despair!_ " He raised his hand in the air. "Reveal yourself, dragon formed from love with the power of rage! I overlay my two Level 7 monsters! Dragon with dual colored eyes! Resurrect from the deep darkness. With the flame of rage, incinerate everything on the earth! Xyz Summon! Come forth, Rank 7! The blazing dragon called by calamity! Supreme King Violent Dragon - Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon!" _(R7/S1/3000/2500/DARK/Dragon/Xyz/Pendulum/Effect)_

Flames burned all around them, chasing away the darkness. He stepped forward. "Thank you for helping me see it. The power that our bond can call. Odd Eyes Raging Dragon's effect activates! Since it was summoned with an Xyz Monster as its material, I will detach one Overlay Unit to destroy all cards you control! Wipe it out! Raging Firestorm!" All the cards on his opponent's field were burned away.

Rage. Love.

The power from rage and love.

Noelev smirked, his red eyes glowing. "Very good. You will need that power for what is up ahead."

He chose not to comment on that. "Raging gains 200 attack for each destroyed card. I destroyed four. Take him out, Raging! Helldive Apocalypse!"

 **Noelev En: 1500 - 3800 = 0LP**

Yuya panted, even as a wall of darkness fell away next to him and the three boys who had been trying to break it fell forward on their faces. (Yuya, despite the situation stifled a laugh.) They all got to their feet—Yugo reached him first, pulling him into a tight hug. Yuto and Yuri looked like they were holding themselves back from slaughtering Noelev, and barely succeeding at that.

"You have five seconds to tell me why you put Yuya through that—before I put my rusty screwdriver into your eye." Yuri bit out. "Who the hell are you?"

Noelev sighed. "I am Number 11, Big Eye. Hence, Noelev En."

It was a sign of how strange the day had been that none of them really responded to the revelation, with Yuya simply turning his gaze to the other.

"We, the Numbers are the keys to unlocking a demon—one that we've sealed for centuries. I— **I needed to find someone to protect us. The apostle has found out that we are here, and his servants are coming for us."**

The apostle? A demon?

"So basically, if we don't protect you, we'll all die gory and painful deaths?" Yuri asked, ignoring the disturbed looks his brothers shot him.

"You have issues, Yuri."

Yuri shot him a smirk, before his eyes hardened and turned back to Noelev—Big Eye. Big Eye was watching them with a smile. "I knew when I found out that you all spoke the demon's words that you would be the perfect warriors. So I'd like to task you with this mission. Keep us out of the enemies' hands. We must not reunite… Zarc must not rise again!"

Zarc.

The name echoed in Yuya's heart. A million stories, all come to life. The feeling of something missing, a dream not quite reached.

"We…" he glanced at his brothers. "We accept."

He felt tired all of a sudden. It was truly over…

He fell, blacking out.

He trusted them to catch him.

* * *

" _Dad, it's rude to leave a story unfinished."_

" _Yes, of course, Yuri. Where did I stop?... "The poisoner was dragged in front of the prince to stand trial, and his silver tongue was clear for everyone to see—the ultimate assassin, the poisoner and the liar. The prince admired his cunning and his drive, and at the end, offered him a job._

" _Kill for me. Fight for me."_

" _You can't keep me entertained," the assassin said. "I seek the thrill, I seek the most fun I could ever have. I can't have that if I stay with you—I'd rather have my head cut off."_

 _The prince smiled, stepping off his throne. He stood in front of the assassin. "I know three others just like you. One a villager. One a merchant. One a gladiator. I came into their lives to offer them solace. If you wish for a thrill—by all means, I will show you the most beautiful things the world has seen."_

" _...and if you fail?"_

" _Then you may have my head."_

 _The poisoner agreed, because of two things. Curiosity—and a wish to live. And the prince brought him to the neighbouring kingdoms, gave him a field of his own to grow flowers in. It was there that the poisoner met a little girl. He taught her the names of poisons and how to avoid them. He taught her when he was bored, in between assassinations and journeys. And eventually, he began to see her as more than a random stranger, as an apprentice, someone to carry on his legacy._

 _In the middle of the war, the poisoner became a target for the warring kingdom. And his garden was burned with fire—and when he ran there, frantically praying that the girl had not shown up for her lessons that day…_

 _He found a razed field and a teddy bear that he had given to his pupil._

 _The poisoner was in denial. He refused to believe that the girl was gone. He put out missing posters and asked questions. He eventually found out that the girl had belonged to a poor family—a single, drunk father and son, who spat at him and told him that one less mouth to feed was a good thing._

 _That was the final straw._

 _One day, the poisoner placed his head in his hands and screamed. In that moment, he gave up on ever having a future.""_

" _And then? What did he do?"_

" _He became infamous. He refused the prince's trips and gifts and gave his life to murder. He became the fearsome assassin that one had to face if they tried to kill the prince. He gained the name…"_

" _Aww… does it not say?"_

" _No, Yuri… it doesn't say."_

"You guys have been acting weird since you brought Yuya to the infirmary with those injuries." Rin commented. "Something we should know?"

Snapping out of his daze, Yuri gazed at his brothers. Yugo's head was still buried in his hands (and his mind in his own self-loathing) and Yuto was staring into the forest, cracks on the concrete where he had slammed his fist earlier.

Tsk. So _out of control_.

"Nothing important."

"Is that so." Selena crossed her arms. "Then why do you look like you want to murder something?"

He remembered the feeling of darkness, of something breathing against his skin. Of the strange dream-like state he had been in, drifting in the darkness and knowing that there was something very important, something he had gone there for. And yet the darkness had teased and trapped him there, in the nothingness—

" _That's not despair. You have an odd definition of it. We lived. We fought through all of that. I still had Yuto, Yugo and Yuri. With them, I have no despair."_

Yuya!... the shock of remembering what he had forgotten, the rage that came at realising that the figure had forced them to forget Yuya—

And now they had to protect this bastard or their world would come crashing down? How dare he!

"Ok, calm down." Selena sighed. "Honestly… I don't know why you're upset, but I can guess. So what if you couldn't protect Yuya from whatever hurt him? Just protect him next time… and next time, and over and over until you are satisfied."

"I'll never be satisfied." Yuri growled out, only for Serena to grin.

It was Ruri who replied, however. "Good. That means you love him."

He groaned. "Don't say those sappy things." The 70 behind his ear glowed green and bright. "I hate hearing that. Love blah love—I prefer results."

"Shut it, Yuri." Yuto stood up, beginning to walk away. Yugo did the same. Ruri frowned and hurried after Yuto.

Yuri sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes.

Selena sat down. "Oi. Aren't you gonna go after your brothers?"

"Why should I?"

She slapped him. "You're scared," she gritted her teeth. "You're just scared, and that's why you refuse to fight, or to motivate your brothers to fight. You're pathetic, Yuri."

He felt irritation at the slap. "I'm not scared." He stood up. "And if I hypothetically didn't want to fight, what's wrong with that?"

"You know, I thought I saw a kindred spirit in you while we were on the ship." Serena bit out, her green eyes glaring at him. "And during your duel. We're both the second oldest, but we're also the black sheep of our families—we have certain habits that they would prefer we not have. But they still care for us, and we still want to protect them." She shook her head. "I fight. A lot, with random people on the streets and with people who hurt others. I used to pick fights using the excuse that I was protecting others, and despite caring for my sisters I avoided them like the plague because I was under the impression that they hated me."

Yuri would normally mock anyone who tried to open up to him, to prove the mistake they had made... and yet, he couldn't do that to Serena for some reason. Certain habits, huh? "And then what happened?"

"Rin knocked some sense into me. She told me that they all hated seeing me come back injured and avoiding them." Serena sighed, a rather forlorn look in her eyes. "She hunted me down every time I went to pick fights. And eventually, I stopped. I'm still impulsive, and I still jump to conclusions... and I can be too confrontational. But I'd like to think I've taken a step in the right direction."

"... why are you telling me this?"

Serena shrugged. "We're friends, aren't we? And you remind me of me, somehow... Yuri, are you satisfied just moping around like this? If you don't try to change things, nothing will change! Whatever danger there is, just standing around like this won't help. You have to move forward."

"That's easy to say."

"Seriously, Yuri? Tell me this—"

* * *

"Hey! Yuto!"

He spun to see Ruri Kurosaki behind him. There was a worried frown on her face.

"Please calm down," she said.

He held back the urge to snap at her—Ruri was too nice for that, and besides she only meant the best. "I'll calm down when Yuya wakes up," he said, hiding his face, acutely aware of the '86' on his right hand, glowing and pulsing and obvious to anyone who had the ability to see it.

It felt disgusting.

Maybe if they had been heroes and innocent kids they would have been happy to be chosen, but they weren't. Yuto wasn't.

He knew what it felt like to fight, to lose, to want to die. Life wasn't as easy as in the movies, it wasn't as carefree. Being chosen wasn't anything that good, it was a burden, another thing stopping him from being able to take care of Yuya.

But it was power. But it was power, and he wished he didn't like it as much as he did. Wished he didn't want it, wished he could say no and just throw it away... but they had no way to say no, did they? Even if they already had too much on their backs, pressing them down... adding yet another burden to that wasn't a choice that they had. They... had to protect them or Zarc...

Why was the name Zarc so familiar?

What if Zarc ended up hurting Yuya anyway?

They had no choice, no choice at all. It was a feeling that he was too used to by now.

Ruri stepped forward. "I know you're sad. I know you're upset. But Yuto… wouldn't Yuya prefer to see you smiling when he wakes up?"

Smiles…

He gave her a nod. "Yeah… you're right. Ruri… we've gotten ourselves in a huge amount of trouble. We have something important to do… but I'm scared to do it. I'm scared to try it, and I'm scared to let Yuya try."

Ruri Kurosaki gave him a soft smile, moving closer. "Is it important? To do it."

To stop the rise of a demon, the end of the world… "It's important."

* * *

"Stupid."

Yugo looked up from his sulking to see Rin Kurosaki giving him an irritated frown. "Oh, it's you."

"Be a little more polite." Rin chided. "I did come out here because I saw you upset."

"...and you called me stupid?"

Rin laughed a little at that. "I guess I was a little too agitated. I know those eyes you guys have. Or at least, I can tell how your older brothers are thinking. But you…"

He gave a sigh, glancing at Clear Wing in his Extra Deck. "You can't read me, huh?" He felt like he had been torn apart in some way, he felt like the Number from the house had done something to him. He had hated seeing Clear Wing in that man's hands. He had hated it… and yet, he hadn't consciously been aware of why until he remembered Yuya.

The very idea of Clear Wing being used to hurt Yuya…

"I feel like I don't do enough for Yuya." He said finally. It felt easier to say when he wasn't talking to his overprotective brothers—the ones who had caused this feeling in the first place. "Or Yuri, or Yuto. I can't be the responsible older brother who makes choices and helps to make sure we keep a roof over our heads. I can't be the one who calls everyone out on what we're doing wrong. I can't be the one who is willing to do cruel things just to support the family. All I have is my naivete and my D-Wheel. I'm _not enough_."

"I feel that way too, for all of them." Rin glanced back towards the forest. "Serena, Yuzu, Ruri. As the oldest, I feel protective, and yet they're all so strong by themselves that they make me feel like I don't do enough."

"You don't talk to them about it?"

A dry laugh. "You're still a blockhead, even if you're depressed. It would be awkward."

"Why? They're your sisters, aren't they?"

Rin looked back over, and it struck him how bright amber her eyes were. Pretty. "Says the one who won't talk to his own brothers about how he feels, even though he cares so much. Tell me, Yugo—"

* * *

At three separate places, to three separate people, the Kurosaki sisters said the same thing. The same time, an echoing, piercing thought.

" **If it's so important to you, why won't you fight for it?"**

Family, peace and a bond.

Why wouldn't they fight?

* * *

In the infirmary, Yuzu Kurosaki glanced at the sleeping Yuya.

She knew, from all the times Serena got in fights and came home bleeding… she understood how bad the Sakakis must have been feeling then.

For a second, she thought she saw something on Yuya's face, but it vanished almost instantaneously. Probably nothing.

 _Wake up soon, Yuya. Everyone's worried for you._

She pulled out her deck and began shuffling the cards, glancing at all of them. Doing that always put her in a peaceful mood. It always let her feel more… relaxed. Not as nervous.

There was a loud laugh, before a figure stepped into the room. She was on her feet immediately, blocking the figure from Yuya. The figure was wreathed in shadows, and he let out a loud hiss.

It unnerved her. She didn't understand it.

The figure looked up, gold eyes glowing. It spoke, in a distinctly feminine voice. "I see. This is where the key is… and yet… step aside."

Yuzu shook a little, but she stood there. "I will not let you get to Yuya."

She thought about Yuto, and how tormented he had looked as they ran into the infirmary, about how he had collapsed on the floor immediately, punching the ground in frustration.

She thought about Yuri, about how the other had seemed so calm but she could see the fury building up in those eyes, and the way he had looked at Yuya, the way he had tried to reassure himself by checking Yuya's pulse over and over.

She thought about Yugo. Who had been crying quietly, the tears streaming down his face even as he tried to hide them. The way he had glanced at his older brothers before he had reached out and promised the sleeping Yuya that he wouldn't let it happen again.

How could she step aside after seeing all of that?

The figure raised their duel disk. "Very well. Then, for my master—I will send you into the shadows."

She raised her own.

Be brave, she told herself. She would fight too. For herself… and so that she would never have to see anyone that she cared about looking so pained again.

"Duel!"

 **A/N:** **I'm so sorry for the wait! School caught up to me :( But I'm really happy to get back to this story! Happy (very late) new year, everyone! I actually posted a Christmas oneshot as a backstory of sorts for this AU! It's called "Dragons' Christmas" so go check it out if you want!**

 **So this is sort of a build up to the next part of the story. You know, the calm before the storm. So as you can see, Yuzu will duel next chapter!**

 **Also, I got a few PMs from people—so in case anyone has read this far and not realised, the card effects in this story follow the OCG/TCG cards ;) Thanks for reading, and I really hope you enjoyed!**

 _Chapter Preview: Chapter 8–Symphony of Death_

 _Yuzu duels a mysterious figure, who wants to kidnap Yuya for some reason. However, despite the wounds she gains from the fight, she keeps her resolve!..._

 **Once again, thanks so much for reading! (The next chapter will be much longer :))**

 **-Blaise**

 **Edit: (8/7/19) Added a bit to the interactions between Yuto and Ruri, Yuri and Serena and Yugo and Rin. Centralised life points.**


	8. Chapter 8: Symphony of Death

"Duel!"

 **Yuzu Kurosaki: 4000LP**

 **Blaze: 4000LP**

"Blaze?" She said, glancing at the name that had shown on her duel disk.

"You can call me that, I guess." The figure glanced at their hand. "I shall begin, then. I will set the Scale 1 Metalfoes Goldriver _(4*/S1/1900/500/FIRE/Psychic/Pendulum)_ and the Scale 8 Metalfoes Steelen _(2*/S8/0/2100/FIRE/Psychic/Pendulum)_ in the Pendulum Scales!"

Pendulum…

Yuzu looked at her hand, thinking about how to fight a Pendulum deck of all things… at least this was a Master Duel, so Blaze couldn't just revive all her monsters over and over.

"With this scale, I can Pendulum Summon monsters from Level 2 to Level 7! Pendulum Summon! Come, two Raremetalfoes Bismugear! _(1*/S8/0/0/FIRE/Psychic/Pendulum/Effect)_ And a Goldriver! Now, I will activate the effect of Metalfoes Goldriver! I will destroy one of the Bismugear I control to set a Metalfoes spell or trap from the deck! I will set Metalfoes Fusion!"

A Fusion user as well? That was… intriguing, to say the least. So around the same Summoning Mechanics as her deck.

"And when Bismugear is destroyed, once per turn I can add a Metalfoes monster to my hand from my deck! Come to me, a third Raremetalfoes Bismugear!" Blaze shook their head. "You seem like a nice girl, but I have more important things to attend to. I will set my two Metalfoes in the Link Markers!"

Link Summoning too… hmm… this might be harder than she had thought. She would still try her best though.

"Burning, melting metal! Reshape yourself in the flames of purgatory—and create a new power! Link Summon!" The girl snapped her fingers as flames appeared around them. One of the sparks of flame touched her—and it actually burned her. Her eyes widened. "The avatar of metal, Heavymetalfoes Electrumite!" _(L2/1800/FIRE/Psychic/Link/ Effect/Bottom Left, Bottom Right)_

Blaze sighed. "Electrumite's Effect. I destroy a face up card I control and add a Pendulum Monster from face up in my Extra Deck to my hand. I'll destroy my Steelen and add Bismugear to my hand. Then, since a card left my Pendulum Scale, I draw one card. I'll set one card and end my turn."

"Draw!" Yuzu glanced at her hand. "I will activate the spell card Polymerisation! I will fuse the Solo the Melodious Songstress _(4*/1600/1000/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)_ and the Shopina the Melodious Maestra _(7*/2300/1700/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)_ in my hand!" She couldn't afford to not go all out from the start. She had to win, for everyone's sake. "Angel's song! Supreme genius! With the guidance of the baton, gather your power! Fusion Summon! Now come here to the stage! Sing the song of victory! Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir!" _(6*/1000/2000/LIGHT/ Fairy/Fusion/Effect)_

Her ace appeared on the field in a shower of petals and gave a bow. Blaze snorted. "Performers? How childish."

Yuzu bristled.

"Don't judge my deck before you face it! Now, I'll have Bloom Diva attack your monster!" The monster shot out a storm of petals with a smile. "Bloom Diva cannot be destroyed by battle, and I take no damage from battles involving it. Now, at the end of the battle, her effect activates! If she battled a Special Summoned monster, I can deal you damage equal to the difference between their attack! Reflect Shout!"

"... how nonsensical. Trap card, Pendulum Defence. Since I have a card in the Pendulum Scale, I can negate a destruction effect and special summon a Pendulum monster from my deck." Blaze looked at her, and she felt her breath catch—strange, almost pulsing cat eyes.

"... I cannot deal you damage, then. But I'll activate the effect of Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring _(3*/0/1800/FIRE/Zombie/Tuner/Effect)_ in my hand! I discard it to prevent you from Special Summoning a monster!" She sighed. She didn't manage to get rid of the Link Monster this turn… that honestly sucked. "I set a card and end."

"That's it? You may have some courage, but courage is useless without power or drive!" Blaze drew a card. "I have to resurrect my king and serve my master! I could never lose to you!"

King? Master? What on earth was she talking about? Blaze's smile became far more ferocious at her confused look.

"So you don't know what I'm talking about—why are you getting in my way then? You know nothing!" The girl held out her hand. "Pendulum Summon! Return from the Extra Deck, Steelen, Bismugear! And now—I will Normal Summon a Goldriver from my hand! I will set all four monsters in the Link Markers!"

Four?

"Demon king who rises from the depths of hell! Ravage and destroy with your cruel power! Link Summon! Link 4! Saryuja Skull Dread!" _(L4/2800/EARTH/Dragon/Link/Effect/ Up, Bottom Left, Down, Bottom Right)_ A monstrous creature with long draconian wings of red and purple and an almost skeletal white body appeared.

Breathe, she told herself. Don't panic. She had always hated dragons… yet when she was watching the Sakakis, she hadn't hated their dragons at all. She dismissed the thought with a sigh. Nothing important…

"When Saryuja Skull Dread is summoned with four or more materials, I draw four cards and place three back on the bottom of the deck." A feminine sigh. "And then with its effect, I will special summon Metalfoes Titania _(7*/S4/2500/1500/FIRE/Psychic/Pendulum/Effect)_ from my hand since I used three or more materials to summon it." A woman in a metal suit of armor appeared, before glowing. "And since I used two or more materials to special summon Skull Dread, any monster summoned to its Link Markers gains 300 attack and defence points."

Blaze took a deep breath. "And now, I will activate the spell card Lightning Vortex from my hand. I discard a card to destroy all monsters on your field." Lightning flew down towards Bloom Diva—only for the monster to yawn and bat the lightning away with a flourish.

She felt a smile grow on her face. "Sorry, but Bloom Diva won't be leaving the stage so early! Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir cannot be destroyed by card effects!"

"What?" Blaze looked taken aback. "Ugh… I'll have Metalfoes Titania activate its effect. At the end of my turn, I can destroy it to draw a card. I end my turn."

"My turn! Draw!" She glanced at her hand. Hmm… "I'll activate the spell card Melodious Underworld Fusion!" A portal appeared next to her, dark black. "I can banish materials from my field and graveyard to Fusion Summon a "Melodious" monster, and this turn it cannot be destroyed by card effects! I will banish Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir, Solo the Melodious Songstress and Shopina the Melodious Maestra from my field and graveyard!" The three monsters were sucked into the vortex.

Blaze's eyes narrowed.

"Underworld songstress who wanders the world with your dark voice! Appear now, and aid me! Fusion Summon!" She took the card out of her duel disk. She rarely used this card, since it didn't really fit the theme of her performers… but she had to do the best she could.

 _And that includes not hesitating anymore!_

"Level 9! The dark melodious angel—Farsa Flora the Melodious Angel Choir!" _(9*/S10/3000/2000/DARK/Fairy/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect)_ A woman in a long dark dress who looked like an older Bloom Diva appeared. She nodded to the monster. "Farsa Flora will attack your Saryuja Skull Dread!"

"I will activate the effect of the card I discarded just now!" Blaze held out her hand. "When an attack is declared while Metalfoes Germanium _(4*/S4/0/0/FIRE/Psychic/ Pendulum/Effect)_ is in my graveyard, I can special summon it from the graveyard and end the Battle Phase, but it is banished the next time it leaves the field!" A monster with rusty green armor appeared on the field. "Well?" She sounded flustered, and her eyes were wild. A far cry from how collected she had been at the start of the duel. Afraid to lose then?

Yuzu glanced at the other girl. There was something afraid to her, something terribly vulnerable, though she couldn't really tell what it was. "I'll end my turn. Over to you… Blaze."

"About time!" The girl drew a card as well. Yuzu flinched. There was something not right… as though something had been disturbed. The air seemed to burn hotter and hotter as the girl raised the card in the air. "This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be special summoned from my hand by meeting the following conditions. I must have two cards in my Pendulum Scales, at least two FIRE monsters face-up in my Extra Deck, and at least one FIRE Link Monster in my graveyard. All the conditions are met!" As she said the words, an inferno erupted. As the fire seared at her, she raised her hands. It hurt, it burned and—

She felt the fire all move away, congregating at one spot in the medical bay. Blaze smiled—a relieved smile. "Overscale Pendulum! Level 12–Blaze Matrix the Mythic God Knight!" _(12*/S0/4000/3000/FIRE/Psychic/Pendulum/Effect)_

Fire hardened, solidified into a figure in a long scarlet cloak, a roar emerging from the flame. Yuzu felt like she was staring into an abyss, something that was threatening to destroy her and everything she loved. Something sinister.

"Blaze Matrix's effect! Your monster effects are all negated this turn! On the turn it is summoned, no other monsters on my field can attack!" Blaze shook her head. "Blaze Matrix will attack your Fusion Monster! Get rid of that abominable monster!"

* * *

An alarm rang. Reiji sat straight up in his office.

One of the cards had been used.

He picked up his duel disk, checking the location of the card that had been used. The sick bay… where Yuya Sakaki would be.

One of the Sakakis, who reminded him so much of himself that it hurt to see them.

He hurried out of his office, dialling a number on his phone along the way.

* * *

"Yuto?"

It hurt it hurt it hurt and why did it hurt so much—it felt like something was burning him up from the inside. He held a hand on his heart, desperately trying to keep himself steady.

"Yuto!" Ruri's concerned eyes found his, but some reason just seeing her made the pain worse. He turned away, trying to move towards where he knew Yuya was.

He glanced towards the sick bay. Yuya… he needed to find Yuya… he needed to…

The pain grew to be too much. Nearby, he could feel Yugo and Yuri in the same pain somehow. His legs gave way and he fell to the ground.

Everything went black.

* * *

Yuzu gulped, looking at the flame coming towards her.

It made contact. Farsa Flora tried to stop it from fully hitting her, protecting her with its body, trying to shield her. But the flames still burned at her skin.

She screamed.

 **Yuzu Kurosaki: 4000 - 1000 = 3000LP**

She fell to the ground when the attack was over, panting. That had been painful. More painful than the time she had scalded her skin trying to cook for her sisters. More painful than the time she had fallen off the playground and gotten hurt.

It hurt her to admit it, but it was the most physically painful thing she had ever had to go through in her life.

"I end my turn." Blaze called. "Well? Get up!"

She pulled herself to her feet. "Not over… not over yet!" She pulled herself to her feet, reaching out her hand to draw a card—but her arm hurt too much.

She had to… take it! She felt her hand fall limply, even as she tried to lift it again—and then another hand reached out, pulling hers towards the deckbox.

Yuya Sakaki looked at her, his dark red eyes worried. Despite his injuries, he moved her hand too, helping her. There was a determination in his eyes, a need to not lose no matter what. To protect everything. They mirrored her eyes so much that it was scary. "Thank you, Yuzu." He said softly. "You tried to help me… let me help you." He pulled her hand backwards. "Draw!"

She wanted to protect Yuya. She wanted to protect everyone from whatever was happening, no matter what… that was right. Most physically painful. There had been things far more terrifying and far more painful than that in her life… and she refused to let this destroy her when she had survived everything else.

The card she drew was not anything she recognised. Not what she had put into her deck.

Even though she didn't recognise it, it felt like hope.

She placed it on her duel disk. "I Normal Summon Chord the Melodious Diva from my hand!" _(4*/1200/700/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)_ A singer with ruby coloured eyes and green hair appeared. She smiled wearily—it looked like a female Yuya. "Chord's effect! I special summon a "Melodious" monster that was banished back to the field! Return—Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir!" Her signature monster reappeared in a flourish of flower petals.

Blaze paled. Yuya smiled, looking tired all of a sudden and fell back onto the bed.

"Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir will attack your Mythic God!" Yuzu reached out her hand. "Continuous Trap Card—Melodious Reactions! All battles involving a "Melodious" monster have the damage doubled! Now, Bloom Diva—Reflect Shout! Take her out!"

"No!" Blaze looked frantic. "I can't lose, I can't, I can't!"

The attack hit.

 **Blaze: 4000 - 3000x2 = 0LP**

Yuzu fell backwards, exhausted. When had the world started spinning again? She closed her eyes.

She'd just rest for a while…

She heard the sound of frantic footsteps. "Yuzu!" She heard Rin's frantic scream before she passed out.

* * *

Reiji found himself being glared at by three girls with the same face. He had run into the infirmary after hearing Yuzu Kurosaki's scream, only to find both her and Yuya passed out on the bed, looking burned and tired. Only a moment later, the three other Kurosaki girls had run into the room, pulling the three Sakaki boys behind them. (Privately, Reiji wondered how they had managed that; but decided not to ask. The looks they were shooting him were already venomous enough.)

Four girls with the same face, and four boys with the same face. It was almost like a joke. And then as though things couldn't get any worse, the Kaiser had walked into the sick bay.

The Kaiser, Third Year Shun Kurosaki. Namely, the older brother of the girl who had just been hospitalised.

It just kept getting worse, didn't it? He glanced at the five teens currently unconscious in the infirmary. Serena Kurosaki let out a cough. "Do you know what happened to our sister, Headmaster?" She asked, her emerald eyes looking at him with a stern edge to them. "How could this have happened?"

"My apologies," he began. "This should not have happened." He glanced at the Sakakis. Why had they gotten hurt when they were nowhere near the fire? A mystery to solve later, perhaps. "There was something stolen from the lab on this island last week. Twelve cards with the power to manipulate Real Solid Vision."

"Is that what hurt Yuzu?" At his nod, Rin Kurosaki shook her head, looking irritated. There was nothing of the desperate and frantic girl who had screamed Yuzu's name earlier. replaced by a cold veneer that was now directed at him. "I swear, I'm going to sue whoever did this."

He felt a slight bit of amusement at the words.

Shun Kurosaki's eyes were narrowed, even as he looked behind Reiji. First at Yuzu, then at—

Yuto shifted in the bed, his eyebrows furrowed. "Where are you?" There was a strange tone to the whisper, darker and more angry. "Stop hiding! Come out! Get out of the shadows and show yourself!" The last words were almost spat out, completely different from the cool and collected Yuto that he had seen interacting with his brothers and the Kurosakis.

He heard another sound, a scream. Yugo had his hands over his ears and his face was twisted in a strange show of agony. Rin and Ruri rushed over to the boys' bedsides—and Serena shot a worried look towards Yuri, who hadn't moved. The strangest part of the whole situation was that the moment the girls got close to the boys, their pain actually seemed to intensify, the screams louder. No one else seemed to notice; even Shun Kurosaki was more concerned with watching the boys warily, like they would all snap or something.

Something strange was going on in his school, and he would figure out what it was.

He dialled a number on his phone. It rung, before Reira answered. "Big brother."

"Reira. Arrange for a team of security to be on high alert, and stay out of danger." He ordered. "I don't want you going against anyone with those cards."

"Yes, brother." Reira sounded nervous. "Please be careful, too…"

He glanced towards the Sakaki brothers. "I will."

Another thing they had in common, it seemed. "I will explain as much as I can when your friends wake up."

Ruri Kurosaki glanced at him, but unlike her sisters, she didn't seem overly hostile. "Alright." She went back to watching over Yuto, who was still writhing in his sleep.

Reiji closed his eyes and left.

* * *

Yuto woke up in a dark arena. There was loud chanting, and someone was standing in the middle of it. A figure, cloaked in darkness and watching him. He sighed.

"Get out of my head," he muttered, before walking into the arena.

* * *

"So we duel and if I win, you let me leave?" Yugo nodded. "Alright! I'll take you on."

The figure let out a rattling sound of laughter.

* * *

Yuri frowned. " Now you've got me mad. I'll punish you for that."

The figure smirked. "You can try."

"Duel!" They shouted.

 **A/N:** **This chapter ended up being a bit shorter than I intended… oh well. Real life stuff got in the way, but I promise next chapter will be way longer! Anyway, so Yuzu duelled! I'll probably come back and revise the duel again at some point, but for now this is it!**

 **Thanks for the reviews, follows and so on! It really makes me feel more motivated :D**

 _Chapter Preview: Chapter 9–Nightmare World_

 _Yuto, Yuri, Yugo and Yuya are trapped in their dreams by a malevolent force who threatens to take their souls, and they must duel to make their way out._

 **See you guys next time! I hope you enjoyed :) And before I forget, here's Farsa Flora's card details.**

 **Farsa Flora the Melodious Angel Choir** ( _9*/S10/3000/2000/DARK/Fairy/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect)_

 _(3 "Melodious" monsters)_

 _Pendulum Effect:  
_ Once per turn, during either player's turn, you may tribute one "Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir" you control: Special Summon this monster from your Pendulum Scale, and if you do it loses 500ATK until the end of this turn.

 _Monster Effect:_

This monster cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects. If this monster deals battle damage to your opponent, you may gain life points equal to that amount. You may banish one "Melodious" monster from your graveyard; this monster gains attack equal to the banished monster's attack until the End Phase.

If this monster would leave the field, you may place it in your Pendulum Scale.

 **Bye!**

 **-Blaise**

 **Edit: (8/7/19) Life points centralised and a bit more description for Rin's reaction.**


End file.
